The air traffic controllers who guide every flight in American skies are finally getting the air traffic controller pay raise Congress approved months ago. The Transportation Department and the controllers' union reached a deal on Friday for a 2.8% raise, which takes effect Sunday, October 18, and will be backdated to the start of the year.
The money comes with conditions. Under the deal, controllers will have to badge in and out of work, shifts will be planned around how busy the skies are forecast to be, and staff can be moved to the facilities with the worst shortages.
FAA · Air Traffic Control
The Controllers' Raise, Explained
Contrail
Why the Raise Took So Long
Controllers already got the 1% raise most federal workers received in January. In April, Congress approved an extra 2.8% for them, which would bring their total raise in line with the 3.8% the military got this year.
There was a catch built into the law. The extra money could only be paid once the FAA's administrator decided the agency was scheduling and using its controllers more efficiently. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford tied that decision to changes in how controllers' shifts are scheduled, which had to be negotiated with their union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. That left the raise on hold for months.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday that the raise is "tied to workplace reforms, as required by an act of Congress."
The Bigger Problem: Not Enough Controllers
The raise matters because the US doesn't have enough air traffic controllers, and hasn't for more than a decade. Duffy has said the workforce is roughly 3,000 controllers short. When a facility is short-staffed, the FAA slows down how many planes can take off and land, and travelers feel it as delays.
The FAA is trying to hire its way out. In April, it launched a recruiting campaign aimed at video gamers, with an ad featuring clips from games like Fortnite and the promise of at least $155,000 a year after three years on the job. The agency hired 2,028 controller trainees in fiscal 2025, its most since 2008, and plans to keep raising that number each year.
Hiring alone won't fix it quickly, though. Training and certifying a new controller takes two to six years, and the FAA lost an estimated 400 to 500 trainees during last year's 43-day government shutdown.
What It Means for Travelers
Don't expect shorter delays overnight. The raise doesn't add any new controllers, and the shortage will take years to close.
What could help sooner is the other half of the deal. Moving controllers to the facilities with the worst shortages and planning shifts around the busiest times could ease some of the bottlenecks behind ground stops and late departures. Whether that works will show up where it always does: in how often your flight leaves on time.
