Controller Workforce Plans
Archive of FAA ATC Staffing Reports & Hiring Projections
The FAA Controller Workforce Plan (CWP) is an annual report detailing the agency's hiring targets, retirement forecasts, and facility-by-facility staffing goals. Since the FAA typically removes older reports from their public site, this page serves as a centralized archive from 2016 to the present, ensuring controllers, applicants, and researchers can track long-term trends.
Why tracking historical CWPs matters:
- Analyze facility-specific staffing target changes.
- Track historical training timelines and success rates.
- Observe shifts in national hiring projections due to attrition.
Actual vs. Target Staffing
Comparison of targeted CPC counts against the actual certified workforce (2011–2028).
Hiring & Attrition
Annual hiring goals vs. actual Academy admissions and controller retirements/losses.
Time-to-Certification
Average training time trends by facility complexity levels (in months).
50-Year Historical Headcount Trend
Historical headcount trends and the long-term impact of the 1981 PATCO strike (1969–2018).
The controller workforce has historically experienced major shocks and recruitment cycles. The most significant was the 1981 PATCO strike, which resulted in the termination of over 10,000 controllers and forced the FAA to rebuild the workforce from scratch.
This created a concentrated retirement wave 25–30 years later (peaking around 2007–2012). Today's staffing challenges are directly linked to replacing this generation of controllers, a task compounded by the 2013 budget sequestration and 2020 pandemic-related training suspensions.
Workforce Plan PDF Archive 11
FY 2026 – 2028 Plan
Introduces the Terminal Radar/Tower Rebasing (TRB) targets, revising individual facility staffing metrics across the nation.
FY 2025 – 2028 Plan
Highlights modern recruitment paths, target overrides, and training throughput updates following system-wide recovery.
FY 2024 – 2033 Plan
Outlines long-term hiring projections and response actions to rebuild staffing levels post-pandemic.
FY 2023 – 2032 Plan
Contains comprehensive statistical appendices on hiring bids, training facility metrics, and retirement waves.
FY 2022 – 2031 Plan
Addresses the post-pandemic resumption of Academy classes in Oklahoma City and revised controller attrition projections.
FY 2021 – 2030 Plan
Reflects changes during COVID-19 facility protocols, Academy closures, and temporary training pipeline delays.
FY 2020 – 2029 Plan
Details the hiring targets and academy intake models planned immediately before the pandemic disruptions.
FY 2019 – 2028 Plan
Covers the implementation of the Collaborative Resource Work Group (CRWG) metrics and new scheduling parameters.
FY 2018 – 2027 Plan
Provides insights on placement lists, transfer queues, and national success rates for developmental controllers.
FY 2017 – 2026 Plan
Marks the initial empirical recording of training times and success rates by facility class and size.
FY 2016 – 2025 Plan
An expansive plan focusing on the FAA's multi-year hiring surge to address controller retirement eligibility.