[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
In regard to air traffic control, we've had a
conversation over the course of the last month about some of the challenges that
we're having in the airspace. Many of you know that we are 2,000 controllers
short, air traffic controllers short, and we have surged our Academy to bring
more controllers into our system. We are 20% up in controllers through the
Academy thus far this year. I've also offered air traffic controllers who are
of the age of retirement a 20% upfront cash bonus to actually stay on. Some of
the best controllers we have don't retire; [they] keep working for us.
All of that has been reducing the pressure on the staffing side of air traffic
control. It's working, but it takes years to bring more well-trained certified
controllers into the airspace. The shutdown is having an impact on our ability
to maintain those numbers and dent that 2000 shortage that we have.
You also know we're modernizing the airspace. We have an old set of equipment
that we use to control America's airspace. We have, though, the safest airspace
in the world. And that's not because of the equipment; that's because of the
well-trained air traffic controllers that we have operating the national
airspace. We received $12.5 billion from the Congress in one big, beautiful
bill. And we need a total of $31.5 billion to accomplish the mission of
completely rebuilding America's airspace. The work has begun. We're
transitioning our -- our telecommunications. We're about to announce a project
manager to do all of the work for this brand new system.
But I want to talk about what's happening over the course of the last month with
regard to the shutdown. Our air traffic controllers and a lot of those who work
at DOT but throughout government, they haven't received paychecks. And many of
these employees, they're the head of household. They have their spouse at home.
They have a child or two or three, and when they lose income, they are
confronted with real world difficulties in how they pay their bills. And so for
your traffic controllers, they received a partial payment in -- in early October. The
second payment, they got a big fat zero, no paycheck at all. Tomorrow, they get
a pay stub email on what their next paycheck is going to be. And when that
pay stub comes out, that is also going to be zero. So they will have gone a
month without any pay.
And what we're finding is that our air traffic controllers, because of the
financial pressures at home, are taking side jobs. They need to put food on the
table, gas in the car, pay their bills. By the way, I do not want them to take
side jobs. I want them to show up for work. We have asked them to show up for
work, but I'm not naive to understand that they're trying to figure out how they
meet their -- their daily obligations. And so because of that, we have seen staffing
pressures throughout our airspace.
Those who travel will see that we had -- we've had more delays. We've had more
cancellations. We do not want to see disruptions at the FAA or here at DOT. We
don't want that. But our number one priority is to make sure when you travel,
you travel safely. And that's why, as the administrator and I have been talking
throughout the day, his team has been working for the last 24, 36, 48 hours
crunching data. We're noticing that there's additional pressure that's building
in the system. And again, our priority is to make sure that you're safe. And so
we're going to talk about additional measures that we are going to take that's
going to reduce the risk profile in the national airspace.
And I'm going to turn it over to the administrator
to do that. As he walks through what that plan is going to look like, I
anticipate there'll be additional disruptions. There'll be frustration. We are
working with the airlines. They're going to work with passengers. But in the
end, our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as
possible.
The administrator is going to talk about all of the
-- the tools we're going
to deploy. One of them, though, is going to be that there is going to be a 10%
reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations. The administrator is going to tell
you that it's been -- this is data-based. This is not based on what airline travels has more
flights [sic] out of what location. This is about where is the pressure and how do we
alleviate the pressure.
And so I want to thank him for, again, him and his team's great work. He'll lay
out what the specifics are of this plan and then we're happy to take questions
from all of you.
Page Updated: 11/6/25
U.S. Copyright Status:This text = Property of
AmericanRhetoric.com
