Trump Administration Fires Hundreds Of FAA Employees
As part of its ongoing effort to slash federal government spending, the Trump administration has fired nearly 400 Federal Aviation Administration employees weeks after a midair crash killed 67 people near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
FAA Employees Are Fired: Which Ones And Why?
Over the weekend, days before a Delta Air Lines CRJ-900 crashed in Toronto and just weeks after a deadly American Airlines crash over Washington, DC, notice went out to roughly 400 FAA employees that their positions had been eliminated.
Per the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union, a division of the AFL-CIO, impacted employees included:
- radar, landing, and navigational aid maintenance mechanics
- aeronautical information specialists
- environmental protection specialists
- aviation safety assistants
- management and program assistants
The layoffs were spearheaded by Elon Musk, leader of the advisory Department of Government Efficiency, who said, “We need to stop government spending like a drunken sailor on fraud & waste or America is gonna go bankrupt. That does mean a lot of grifters will lose their grift and complain loudly about it. Too bad. Deal with it.”
Pete Buttigieg, the Biden-era Secretary of Transportation, asked why the positions were eliminated:
The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 17, 2025
Sean Duffy, the current Secretary of Transportation, responded:
Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system. In less than four weeks, we have already begun the process and are engaging the smartest minds in the entire world.
Here’s the… https://t.co/LCL1dswC2T
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 18, 2025
Which prompted a response back:
At least one of the claims here (concerning telework rates) is demonstrably false, so forgive us for seeking more specifics on the rest. Is the Secretary claiming, and will he show, that none of the hundreds of FAA personnel he just fired were important to safety?
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 18, 2025
Meanwhile, Senator Maria Cantwell (D – WA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, lamented, “The FAA is already short 800 technicians and these firings inject unnecessary risk into the airspace — in the aftermath of four deadly crashes in the last month.”
But Duffy insisted, “Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.”
As for me, I’m hearing a lot of allegations on both sides without any specifics. Without excusing the failure of Buttigieg to meaningfully upgrade safety at the FAA during his tenure, I do wonder, like him, exactly why those 400 employees were fired…was it because they were doing nothing? Doing something wrong? Simply deemed unnecessary?
If you are one of the 400 FAA workers who were fired, please do reach out or leave a comment below…I’d love to hear about the work you were doing at the FAA.