Tech billionaire Elon Musk is urging retired air traffic controllers to come back to the workforce amid the nationwide shortage of workers.
“There is a shortage of top notch air traffic controllers. If you have retired, but are open to returning to work, please consider doing so,” Musk said in a Thursday post on X, the social media platform he owns.
Earlier this month, President Trump’s administration began firing hundreds of workers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including personnel brought on for the FAA radar as well as landing and navigational aid maintenance.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defended the terminations, noting that air traffic controllers were not cut in the process. Duffy said less than 400 workers were ousted from the FAA as part of the administration’s push to downsize the federal government, slash costs and improve efficiency.
These cuts came just weeks after an American Airlines plane collided with a Black Hawk helicopter right before landing at the Reagan Washington National Airport. The crash killed all 67 people and was one of the worst U.S. aviation crashes in the last 20 years.
Duffy said during an interview in early February that he planned to offer air traffic controllers an option to keep working past 56, the mandatory retirement age, in an effort to bolster safety and retain talent.
“I’m going to make an offer to air traffic controllers to let them stay longer. That’s my authority. I can offer them the chance to stay longer, past the mandatory retirement age of 56, pay them more, give them a bonus, keep them on the job, make the system safer, alleviate the pressure on the controllers,” Duffy said on Fox News. “They will make more money.”
Airports are still understaffed with air traffic controllers, and the FAA is looking to fill some 3,000 spots, according to the agency’s data.
Trump said he would discuss potential legislation with lawmakers that would revamp and improve the country’s air safety systems.
“I think that’s going to be used for good,” Trump said during a National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month. “We’re going to do a great computerized system for our control towers. Brand new, not pieced together, obsolete.”
“We spent billions and billions of dollars trying to renovate an old broken system instead of just saying, ‘Let’s cut it loose, and let’s spend less money and build a great system,’” he added.
