DOT IG Auditing FAA’s Controller Hiring Efforts

The DOT inspector general’s office will audit the FAA’s progress in implementing its controller workforce plan for hiring approximately 12,500 new controllers to replace those expected to leave over the next 10 years. The agency watchdog will evaluate the FAA’s progress and assess the effectiveness of other initiatives designed to increase controller productivity. In response to the anticipated surge in air traffic controller attrition, the FAA was directed by Congress in 2003 to prepare a detailed plan to ensure adequate controller staffing. In December 2004 the FAA issued the first in what was supposed to be a series of annual reports outlining its plans for addressing that challenge. But early last year, after the FAA had announced it would begin hiring 1,250 controllers annually over the next 10 years, the White House allotted enough money to hire only 595 trainees in FY 2006.