The Trump administration has started terminating hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees responsible for maintaining vital air traffic control infrastructure, according to CNN. These dismissals, which began late on Friday, come amid Elon Musk’s SpaceX being tasked with developing a new air traffic control system.
While the exact number of workers let go is unclear, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union claims the firings targeted probationary employees, or new hires on a trial period, rather than air traffic controllers—who are already in short supply due to long-standing staffing shortages. The employees received notifications via late-night emails informing them of their termination, as reported by David Spero, president of PASS.
The dismissed workers included FAA radar, landing, and navigation aid maintenance staff, as well as aircraft certification specialists, aviation technical system specialists, engineers, architects, and flight procedures team members, according to Galen Munroe, deputy director of public affairs at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).
Spero emphasized that these employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct.” The termination emails came from a non-governmental “exec order Microsoft email address,” adding to the confusion around the process.
For years, Congress has urged the FAA to address ongoing safety issues and modernize its critical systems, but experts say the agency has not effectively acted on these concerns. The firings come just weeks after a fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where a single controller was managing both helicopter and commercial airline traffic. Several other crashes have occurred since.
In the aftermath of the D.C. crash, Musk claimed that Trump approved his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) team to implement “rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” though specific details about these upgrades remain undisclosed.
On Monday, members of Musk’s SpaceX team visited the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia to observe the current system, gather feedback from air traffic controllers, and brainstorm ways to create a safer, more modern system, as shared by Sean Duffy, Secretary of the Department of Transportation, in a post on X.
