In a press release issued today, the FAA said it had revised its earlier Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan "to address anticipated retirement and replacement of air traffic controllers over the coming decade."
The agency says that the revised plan "is based on updated traffic forecasts, experience with productivity increases and actual retirements and improved mathematical models."
Here are some details:
As part of the revised plan, the FAA will hire 930 controllers by the end of this fiscal year. The President has requested funding as part of his 2007 budget request to allow the agency to hire more than 1,130 additional controllers in fiscal year 2007. The plan notes that hiring more than 2,000 controllers over the next two years will allow the agency to replace departing controllers and increase the size of its workforce by more than 200 controllers.The FAA says it also has plans to improve the training of air traffic controllers, including the use of high-fidelity tower simulators, and other new training facilities.
The plan also addresses the broader need to hire more than 11,800 controllers over the next 10 years based on the latest attrition and traffic growth modeling done by the agency. It outlines how the agency will bring on these new controllers using a schedule designed to provide adequate training lead-time and to address changing air traffic demands over the coming decade.
The agency noted that it has begun hiring and training new controllers, having already hired more than 700 candidates this year. The current pool of controller candidates from various hiring sources exceeds 3,700, which is sufficient to meet staffing needs for the next several years.
Source: FAA Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan Targets Hiring of Nearly 12,000 New Controllers Over Next 10 Years - FAA News
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