Controllers will have to "badge in" and "badge out" at their facilities, and, working with union representatives, local managers will build rosters around forecast workload and operational priorities so that coverage is strongest when traffic peaks. The Transportation Department announced the agreement Friday.
The department also said controller reassignments will be aimed where staffing gaps are most severe. In plain English: more people where demand is highest.
Talks covered options like staggering start times to create more overlap during busy periods and capping leave slots on historically high traffic days. Bryan Bedford, the FAA Administrator, additionally proposed lifting time "on position" - actively managing traffic - in an eight hour shift to five hours, up from four.
"The FAA was withholding the 2.8% pay increase approved by Congress in April until the union agreed to demands that the regulator said would increase efficiency." Bedford said Friday, "By improving how we track work, schedule shifts and allocate personnel, we can make better use of our workforce and respond more effectively to operational demands."
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Congress gave the administrator sole authority to release the funds once he determined certain scheduling and staffing improvements were achieved. In September, two prominent Democrats pressed the agency to release the raise, arguing the April law's conditions did not set a "high bar."
The raise lands Oct. 18 and is retroactive to Jan. 1. It follows years of staffing shortages, repeated government shutdowns that have hurt morale, and outages tied to older equipment, which the Transportation Department and the FAA are in the process of replacing and upgrading. "Securing this pay increase took persistent advocacy on behalf of our members, both on Capitol Hill and at the negotiating table," NATCA President Nick Daniels said.
For investors, a clearer staffing framework and the retroactive pay timeline reduce one source of operational uncertainty for U.S. air traffic. That can matter for aviation reliability and cost planning across airlines, airports, and aerospace suppliers.
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