US received 6,000 applications for air traffic control roles, transportation secretary says
- By Reuters -
- Apr 17, 2026
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration received 6,000 applications for air traffic control roles in the last 12 hours, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Friday.
The FAA opened applications for air traffic controller positions overnight, Duffy said at the Semafor World Economy gathering in Washington.
The U.S. air traffic control system in the U.S. is stretched thin. Many controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks and the FAA’s air traffic control training academy faces serious issues with retaining students.
The workload for air traffic controllers is also growing. Between 2015 and 2024, total flights using the air traffic control system increased by about 10% to 30.8 million, according to the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. government’s auditor.
The Trump administration is especially focused on recruiting video gamers for air traffic control positions, Duffy said. He said his team surveyed a group of current controllers and learned that most of them play video games, prompting the department to recruit from that “community,” he said.