CNN reported that hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration workers who maintain vital air traffic control infrastructure have been let go by the Trump Administration. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been called upon to assist in the development of a new air traffic control system, and the firings started late Friday night.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union claims that they hit probationary employees, or new hires on a trial term, though it is unclear how many employees were let go. The employees weren’t air traffic controllers, who are hard to come by because of decades-long labor shortages.
According to David Spero, head of the PASS union, the employees were notified via late-night emails on Friday that they had been sacked. According to an air traffic controller who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, the employees include those employed for FAA radar, landing, and navigational aid maintenance.
Spero stated the employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct.” The communications originated from “an ‘exec order Microsoft email address,'” not a government email address.
For years, Congress has urged the FAA to address a trend of near-misses and update vital systems, but experts claim the agency has not taken action on these issues.
Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, stated inn a statement: “We will analyze the effect of these terminations on aviation safety and the national airspace system. It’s a sad day for those who chose to serve in aviation safety and public service, only to have their careers cut short.”
The announcement follows a deadly mid-air accident that occurred at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., in January, where a single controller was managing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the crowded airport. Since then, there have been numerous additional crashes.
Trump authorized his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) staff to “make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” Musk wrote on X a few days after the January crash in Washington, D.C.
Neither Musk nor Trump has shared what those safety upgrades would be.
On Monday, Musk’s SpaceX team members will travel to Virginia’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center to “get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system,” Sean Duffy, Secretary of the Department of Transportation posted on X.
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