House Republican spending budget cuts will worsen the shortage of US air-traffic controllers

Steep spending cuts proposed in a House Republican budget bill would worsen the shortage of US air-traffic controllers, leading to a reduction in flights to New York this summer, officials said May 5.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be forced to halt hiring and training of new controllers, furlough thousands of employees, and stop work on an air-traffic computer system, said the FAA Acting Administrator, Billy Nolen, in a letter to lawmakers.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the prospect of FAA budget cuts “perfectly backward” as the agency is ramping up hiring and attempting to upgrade critical infrastructure.

The number of air-traffic controllers has dwindled over the past decade due to multiple setbacks to hiring and training, including the COVID-19 pandemic and various government shutdowns.

The shortage has already had impacts on the US aviation system. The FAA facility that guides aircraft to and from New York’s major airports has only 54% of the optimal number of fully trained controllers, which prompted the agency in March 2023 to urge airlines to cut flight schedules by as much as 10% during the busy summer season.