Staff member: No controllers fired; 1,840 hired this year, FAA data shows

A staff member at a meeting confirmed that no air traffic controllers have been fired by the administration and said the agency has hired 1,840 new controllers since the start of the year, citing data from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The staff member responded after a colleague asked for clarification, saying, “We have not fired any air traffic controllers. They're critical safety positions.” The staff member added that while 1,840 new controllers have been hired, 305 of those hires have separated — through retirement or choosing other careers — yielding “a net positive of, a little more than 1,500.”

The staff member said not all hires are yet certified or assigned to airspace. “Some of them might have been promoted to a management position. They might have taken another job within the FAA,” the staff member said. The staff member also said the administration expanded academy training by 30% and was “on track to hit 2,000 controllers coming out of the academy” this year, and that July was the academy's busiest month in its history.

The remarks cited the Federal Aviation Administration as the source of the hiring and separation numbers. No formal action or vote was taken during the exchange; it was a follow-up clarification in response to an earlier question posed by a colleague identified in the discussion as “Mister Johnson.”

Meeting participants did not provide additional documentation in the record during the exchange; the staff member characterized the figures as coming from FAA information provided to the meeting.