Hundreds Of FAA Employees Hit Exit

A host of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees have been departing from the agency recently, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The agency is facing a growing number of employees either quitting or retiring, including some senior FAA leaders, fueling concerns that the departures could potentially affect air-traffic control, the WSJ first reported on Thursday. FAA workers are “departing the agency in mass quantities across all skill levels,” according to a May 7 internal presentation to senior FAA leadership discussing the agency’s so-called deferred-resignation program, the WSJ reported.

A separate presentation from the FAA’s human-resources staff noted that over 1,200 employees were resigning through the agency’s deferred-resignation program, according to the WSJ. The agency’s frontline safety employees, such as safety personnel including air-traffic controllers and engineers,  are not eligible for this program, according to the WSJ.

The FAA said that the mass departure of staffers, including retirements and resignations, make up roughly 3% of its total workforce and would not impact the agency’s safety-critical functions, the WSJ reported.

The FAA presentation said that staff departures could potentially impact medical clearances for air-traffic controllers and pilots being processed, as well as runway safety work, according to the WSJ.

The FAA has faced increased scrutiny after a deadly midair collision occurred near the Reagan National Airport (DCA) on Jan. 29. Earlier in May, FAA official Franklin McIntosh said while testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee that a hotline between DCA and the Pentagon had been down since March 2022, and his agency had previously not known about the outage.

“We are refreshing an organization that is built for the future,” an FAA spokeswoman told the WSJ.

The U.S. is currently facing a notable shortage of air traffic controllers. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been moving to address the shortage of air traffic controller workers in the U.S., announcing on May 1 a new package of actions he claimed would “further supercharge the air traffic controller workforce.”

“Safety critical positions have and will continue to be exempt from any hiring freezes or deferred resignation programs,” a FAA spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In addition to retaining these employees, the FAA has actually expanded hiring and onboarding for air traffic controllers and safety professionals – including safety inspectors, mechanics and others who support them.”

The spokesperson noted that the FAA has over 46,000 employees and its “voluntary resignations and retirements” only account for around 3% of its total workforce.

Additionally, the FAA spokesperson told the DCNF that the agency is bringing in “new talent” and refreshing an agency that “delivers an all-new air traffic control system to make air travel safer and an organization that ensures aviation manufacturers are delivering safe products.” The spokesperson added that the retirement program has “had no impact on the FAA’s critical safety functions,” such as oversight of airlines and manufacturers like Boeing, issuance of Airworthiness Directives (ADs), space launch approvals, and runway safety initiatives.

“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 the DCNF.