Trump fires hundreds of FAA air traffic control staff just weeks after deadly plane crash

The Trump administration began firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails on Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.

The affected workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller said. The air traffic controller was not authorised to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Spero said messages began arriving after 7pm on Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he said.

The employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct,” Spero said, and the emails were “from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address” – not a government email address.

The firings hit the FAA when it faces a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at US airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

In the January 29 fatal crash between a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet, which is still under investigation, one controller was handing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport.

  

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