Illinois senators urge FAA to release remaining pay increase for air traffic controllers

The short version

• Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin urged FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to immediately grant a remaining 2.8% pay raise to air traffic controllers.
• Congress approved $140 million for a 3.8% raise in April, but controllers have only received the standard 1% federal worker increase.
• The FAA stated that federal law requires the administrator to first determine that scheduling and efficiency improvements have been met.
• The union and the FAA remain in talks regarding scheduling practices while understaffing persists across national facilities.

Key facts

• The Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act allocated $140 million for a 3.8% raise for air traffic controllers, but only a 1% general federal raise has been distributed so far.[CBS News]
• Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin sent a letter accusing FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford of improperly withholding the remaining 2.8% increase to extract longer hours and scheduling concessions.[CBS News]
• The FAA's 2026 Controller Workforce Plan targets raising average productive time from four hours to five hours per eight-hour shift.[CBS News]
• The FAA stated that the legislation explicitly conditions the pay increase on the administrator determining that scheduling improvements, staffing utilization, or operational efficiencies have been achieved.[CBS News]
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated the FAA hired over 2,000 controllers within the calendar year following a recruitment effort aimed at video gamers.[CBS News]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.

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