The FAA offers bonuses of $ 10,000 to hire new air traffic controllers

Do you want to become an air traffic controller? You can now get a nice piece of money if you are hired.

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy announced the next stage of the Trump administration on Thursday to “overeat” the hiring and retention of controllers in the midst of a national shortage.

It includes a limited -term offer of $ 5,000 each for new employees of hiring and graduates of Oklahoma Academy who succeed in the initial training stages. Another $ 10,000 per person will be offered to new controllers allocated to one of the 13 “more difficult to support” air installations.

There is also an incentive to keep the staff. According to the Ministry of Transport, eligible controllers to retire, but are still under the age of compulsory 56 years can earn 20% of their additional salary for each year, they continue to work.

Other initiatives to accelerate the job process announced Thursday include new opportunities for veteran military controllers and accelerate medical and security authorizations for candidates.

The dowry also opens a new learning center to provide additional help to students from the Academy. He said that only an average of 57% to 73% of trainees graduated, but those who do it can earn an average salary of $ 160,000.

A national shortage of air traffic controller

The Federal Aviation Administration has been fighting against a controller shortage for years. The agency said in May 2024 that it was short of around 3,000 controllers. Later that year, he said he had achieved his hiring goal of 1,800.

The shortage was put under the spotlight after an outdoor collision of January on Washington, DC. A preliminary investigation revealed that the airport tower had failed at the time of the accident.

The problem continued in other busy air areas. On Monday, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey experienced airline operations due to air traffic constraints, including too few controllers and equipment failure, causing delays and cancellations.

The FAA aims to upgrade the obsolete systems and to hire 2,000 new controllers in 2025, the latter accelerated by reducing the hiring process from 8 preceding to five and stimulating the interns of the Academy by 30%.

As grass controllers do not need a university degree but must be under 31 years old and meet certain requirements for education, physical and mental physical condition.

Since then, the agency said it had reduced five months to the job schedule and sent more than 8,300 candidates to pass the aptitude test for air skills to determine their admission to the Academy.

“Less than 45 days after the announcement, one of the first candidates already has a date of start of the academy in early June,” said the acting administrator of the FAA, Chris Rocheleau, in a press release.