FAA to ‘supercharge’ air traffic controller hiring on Long Island; seeks 9K more nationwide

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a new application portal to “supercharge” hiring at a Long Island air traffic control facility this week, as it seeks to recruit and retain nearly 9,000 more controllers nationwide by the end of 2028.

The hiring blitz for New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in East Garden City — which has been understaffed for years — aims to fill 226 positions over the next three years, according to figures released by the FAA.

Currently, the facility is short at least 100 Certified Professional Controllers (CPCs), the staff who are fully cleared for the job.

The FAA air traffic controller academy in Oklahoma City is accepting New York TRACON applications through Aug. 15 — with each being offered a $5,000 bonus for completing the initial qualification training and another $5,000 after getting placed at a facility in “a high cost-of-living area.”

The DOT’s Office of Inspector General is currently auditing New York TRACON — which handles incoming and outgoing flights from JFK and LaGuardia airports — after controllers overseeing Newark Liberty Airport’s airspace were moved to a radar hub in Philadelphia from the East Garden City facility in July 2024.

The move shifted a dozen CPCs to the City of Brotherly Love while New York TRACON’s skeleton crews kept working 60-hour weeks.

That was followed by hair-raising, 90-second radar blackouts in April and May of this year affecting controllers handling Newark flights.

“TRACON N90 oversees the busiest airspace in the country, and it is in dire need of more air traffic controllers and key infrastructure upgrades,” Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) told The Post.

“I’m glad the FAA is working to recruit more controllers,” Gillen added. “However, much more needs to be done, including reversing last year’s misguided decision to relocate controllers from Long Island to Philadelphia.” 

“I recently invited Secretary Duffy to tour N90 and see the important work our air traffic controllers do firsthand,” she also said. “I look forward to his visit to Westbury and hope he will fully implement the recommendations from the DOT’s audit.”

Thousands of other outages due to the FAA’s outdated systems and near-misses have also plagued the FAA.

Almost 1,000 candidates from across the country have signed up for the FAA Academy so far this year, with 550 applying in July alone after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a streamlining of the process meant to cut down on five months’ worth of administrative backlog and accelerate hiring of top candidates.

The FAA said it will be recruiting mainly from the private sector and the US military with the goal of filling all academy classrooms to capacity — while using simulators at 95 facilities to cut total training time by 27%.

Up to 35% of academy students flunk out, according to an FAA spokesperson, meaning the agency will have to keep making improvements to hit its target numbers — or come up short by up to 3,000 hires.

More than 2,000 air traffic controllers are expected to join the FAA this year as part of the agency’s workforce plan, with 8,900 projected to be hired through 2028.

Another 4,600 safety inspectors and engineers are supposed to join the FAA by the end of 2034.

“In our first 100 days, this administration has made more progress on addressing the air traffic controller shortage than the last one did in four years,” Duffy boasted in a statement.

The transportation chief has offered FAA controllers cash bonuses of up to 20% of their annual salaries and other waivers to incentivize veterans from leaving the workforce at the mandatory retirement age of 56.

In May, the Post exclusively reported on efforts by the controllers’ union to block the move.

The urgency of staffing up the FAA was driven home by the tragic Jan. 29 mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in the sky over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 63 people.