Updated Friday May 30 at 10:12 a.m. EDT with comment from Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS).
Despite an agencywide exodus of personnel, the FAA says aviation safety remains unaffected.
An FAA spokesperson told FLYING that “safety-critical” positions such as air traffic controllers remain exempt from the deferred resignation program (DRP) offered by the Department of Transportation (DOT), which The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported has been taken by more than 1,200 employees.
The departure of staff—including senior leaders—comes amid scrutiny over the fatal January collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) and staffing and equipment issues that have disrupted air travel.
“While a limited number of senior leaders—whose roles are not classified as safety-critical—have voluntarily departed, the FAA has a strong bench of experienced professionals who have seamlessly assumed these responsibilities,” the spokesperson told FLYING.
One day after the midair collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and a commercial passenger jet, the White House sent an email urging federal employees to take the DRP, which offers to pay workers through September if they leave their jobs. The DOT offered a second buyout in April.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clarified that about 1,200 safety-critical positions, including air traffic controllers, are exempt from the offer and the federal hiring freeze that President Donald Trump implemented in January. Per the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the FAA is about 3,600 controllers short of its staffing targets, which may have factored into the January collision.
Citing a May 7 internal presentation to senior FAA management, the Journal reported that more than 1,200 recent departures—including senior leaders who oversee air traffic, airlines, and accident investigations—could jeopardize the FAA’s ability to do its job. According to Government Executive, the number of personnel who took the buyout could be north of 2,700.
“Employees are departing the agency in mass quantities across all skill levels,” the presentation reads, per the Journal.
The presentation reportedly warns that FAA expertise will be eroded by the loss of leaders, experts, and mission support employees. The departures could impact airworthiness directives, pilot and air traffic controller medical clearances, runway safety initiatives, and licensing for SpaceX and other launch providers.
Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS)—which represents thousands of FAA employees that install, maintain, and inspect ATC systems, oversee flight standards, and provide mission support and a host of other services—told FLYING it was made aware of the May 7 briefing before it was reported. The union said it has not been able to get a copy of the presentation from the FAA and does not know how many people are leaving.
“PASS knows we are down about 300 bargaining unit employees in the Aviation Safety office but no indication if that’s through the DRP or early retirements,” a spokesperson said.
The FAA spokesperson told a different story.
“The DRP has had no impact on the FAA’s critical safety functions—including oversight of airlines and manufacturers like Boeing, issuance of airworthiness directives (ADs), space launch approvals, and runway safety initiatives,” the spokesperson said.
Per the FAA, recent workforce moves are “refreshing an organization that is built for the future.” The spokesperson said deferred resignations and retirements represent about 3 percent of the agency’s 46,000 personnel but do not include controllers, inspectors, or mechanics. In fact, the source said, hiring for safety positions has expanded with new incentives like higher pay. Thousands have applied to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) since those measures took effect, the FAA said in March.
Sources told the Journal that a range of factors are driving employees to take the deferred resignation offer, including the possibility for future layoffs expected at the DOT. Some are obliging because their jobs have simply been made too inconvenient due to White House initiatives.
“We have heard anecdotally that some employees have resigned because of the return-to-office mandate—two to three hour one-way commutes,” the PASS spokesperson told FLYING.
Agency Changes
Several key FAA leaders have left the agency in recent months, including former administrator Mike Whitaker, Tim Arel, who led the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), and Kelvin Coleman, former head of the Commercial Space Office. The Washington Post reported that several ATO leaders overseeing technical operations, mission support, and safety also departed. Anonymous personnel told the Post that those remaining are struggling to pick up the slack.
The White House in February also fired about 400 probationary FAA employees, reportedly including those recently hired for radar, landing, and navigational air maintenance. According to PASS, 132 of them were reinstated in March. More layoffs could come with a planned reduction in force at the DOT, the scale of which Duffy said will depend on how many employees take the buyout.
The FAA will need all remaining hands on deck to implement the Trump administration’s directives.
Duffy on Wednesday said a proposed $12.5 billion support package “won’t be enough” to carry out his “state-of-the-art” air traffic control modernization plan, which calls for major upgrades across the system. This week, for example, a fiber-optic cable was installed to replace faulty copper wiring that is believed to have caused radar and communications blackouts at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR).
Similar changes are expected to be made nationwide, which will be a massive undertaking. Per a September Government Accountability Office report, the FAA has historically been slow to modernize. The report found that more than three-quarters of ATC systems are “unsustainable” or “potentially unsustainable”—including the NOTAM system, which is more than 30 years old and in 2023 suffered an outage that grounded all domestic flights.
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