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Year: 2026

FAA unveils new air traffic controller hiring plan after chief warned system was ‘chronically understaffed’

FAA unveils new air traffic controller hiring plan after chief warned system was ‘chronically understaffed’

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unveiled an aggressive new workforce overhaul on Friday aimed at tackling chronic staffing shortages, excessive overtime and aging technology across the nation’s air traffic control system. The newly released 2026-2028 Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan calls for hiring thousands of new controllers, modernizing scheduling systems and replacing aging infrastructure across the National Airspace System. The plan comes months after FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford warned lawmakers that air traffic control towers would “never” reach full staffing levels if the agency continued operating under its current structure. “We’ll never catch up,” Bedford said during a December congressional hearing. “The system is designed to be chronically understaffed.” PRIVATIZE THE TSA: 3 STEPS TO BETTER SERVICE AND ENHANCED SECURITY The overhaul also comes amid heightened scrutiny of aviation safety following a series of airport disruptions, delays and close-call incidents that have raised fresh questions about whether the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure is keeping pace with growing travel demand. “This forward-thinking plan delivers on President Donald J. Trump’s promise to provide the American flying public with a world-class air traffic control system, and that starts with highly trained, professional air traffic controllers,” Bedford said in a statement. “We can’t continue to operate the same way and expect better results,” he added. “We’re changing how we hire, train and schedule our controller workforce — and providing them with the state-of-the-art tools they need to succeed.” AI AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEM PROMISES FEWER FLIGHT DELAYS The FAA said the plan identifies a full staffing target of 12,563 certified professional controllers based on forecast demand. As of April 2026, the agency said roughly 11,000 certified professional controllers were deployed across more than 300 air traffic facilities. The agency also has an additional 4,000 controllers in the training pipeline, including about 1,000 who were previously fully certified but are now training at new facilities, according to the plan. Rebuilding the workforce will take time. The FAA said it can take more than two years to fully certify a new-hire controller depending on the complexity of the facility where they are assigned. FAA SCRAMBLES TO HIRE 8,900 AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS BY 2028 AS SHORTAGE REACHES CRISIS LEVELS The agency plans to hire 2,200 new air traffic controllers in fiscal year 2026, 2,300 in fiscal year 2027 and 2,400 in fiscal year 2028 while expanding partnerships with colleges, universities and technical schools. The workforce plan also acknowledges the strain excessive overtime has placed on controllers. “Use of a limited amount of overtime is a reasonable means of addressing unexpected variances of work demands,” the plan states. “However, the levels reached in FY 2023 – FY 2025 far exceed any reasonable use of mandatory overtime.” “Chronic use of overtime leads to fatigue, controller burnout and ultimately loss of retention,” the report says. The plan also notes that workforce scheduling and controller timekeeping are still handled manually by local facility managers. “It is difficult to understand why no automation tools have been deployed to schedule our workforce or track time, attendance and functional work accomplished,” the report states. TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT DEPLOYING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO SPOT AIR TRAFFIC DANGERS, DUFFY SAYS The FAA said improving average controller time on position from about four hours to more than five hours per eight-hour shift could increase effective workforce availability enough to meet current staffing targets. The workforce plan also calls for replacing decades-old infrastructure with a fully digital system, expanding simulator-based training and using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to better manage air traffic demand. Lawmakers also raised concerns during Bedford’s December testimony about the age of some FAA systems, including reports that certain facilities still rely on floppy disks. “When you’re still using floppy disks, that makes everybody less safe, that makes the agency less effective,” Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., said during the hearing. Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., also said she saw floppy disks still in use during a visit to the FAA’s terminal radar approach control facility on Long Island, which manages traffic into major New York-area airports. Bedford told lawmakers the FAA had committed more than $6 billion of the $12.5 billion it received under Trump-backed legislation, including investments in telecommunications infrastructure and new radar surveillance systems. SEAN DUFFY PROPOSES BIG PLANS TO UPGRADE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, USE AI TO FIND ‘HOT SPOTS’ The new workforce plan says the FAA will replace “decades-old, unreliable, analog infrastructure” with a “fully digital network system,” arguing that modern tools will improve reliability, reduce outages and give controllers a more stable working environment. The FAA said the plan builds on its fiscal year 2025 hiring surge, when the agency hired 2,028 air traffic controller trainees, its highest total since 2008. The agency also raised starting salaries for academy students by nearly 30% and implemented financial incentives for academy completion. Still, the FAA said total workforce losses in fiscal year 2025 — including retirements, resignations, promotions, removals, training failures and academy attrition — totaled 1,460. Nearly 400 retirement-eligible controllers were retained through a new bonus structure, according to the agency. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies previously found that about 30% of FAA facilities were staffed more than 10% below staffing targets, while another 30% were staffed 10% or more above targets. The FAA said prior hiring disruptions, including sequestration, government shutdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic, had long-term effects on staffing levels, particularly at major facilities serving some of the nation’s largest airports. Even with thousands of hires planned, FAA officials acknowledged the air traffic controller shortage will not be solved quickly. Between years-long training, retirements, staffing imbalances and modernization challenges, the agency’s own projections make clear the pressure on America’s air traffic control system is expected to continue even as air travel demand continues rising. Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this reporting.

Unlikely bipartisan Senate duo seeks to permanently ban ex-lawmakers from lobbying

Unlikely bipartisan Senate duo seeks to permanently ban ex-lawmakers from lobbying

A bipartisan Senate duo are pushing a proposal to permanently prohibit former lawmakers and elected officers of Congress from lobbying. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have teamed up on a measure called the “Banning Lobbying And Safeguarding Trust Act,” or “BLAST Act.” UNIVERSITIES FACE FUNDING THREAT AS LAWMAKERS TARGET SCHOOLS WITH TIES TO ADVERSARIAL NATIONS “When politicians use their time in public office to cash in after they leave government, the American people lose. Trust in our institutions is at an all-time low, and the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street is a big part of that. We need to restore the American people’s trust in their government, and that’s why I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill to put government clearly back on the side of the people,” Scott said in a statement. “Our founders never intended public service to become a training ground for a lifetime of lobbying. Senator Warren and I are working to end this practice once and for all,” he added. ELIZABETH WARREN’S BEZOS MET GALA JAB BACKFIRES AS CRITICS MERCILESSLY DRAG ‘UN-AMERICAN’ LAWMAKER The proposal for a permanent lobbying ban on lawmakers would go further than current law, according to Warren’s office. “Under current law, former members of Congress are allowed to lobby their former colleagues in Congress after a ‘cooling off’ period — one year for former members of the House of Representatives and two years for former senators,” her office said. WARREN PUSHED ‘FREE AND EASY’ IRS FILING SYSTEM, BUT DOCS REVEAL WHAT SHE USED INSTEAD “It’s simple: Members of Congress should spend their time in Washington serving the American people, not preparing to cash in big time with a cushy lobbying career after they leave office,” Warren said in a statement. “It’s long past time to close the revolving door that’s corrupted our government and destroyed public trust in elected officials. This bipartisan bill is an important push to get that done.”

Georgia GOP gubernatorial hopeful vows to ‘ban DEI’ in state but his own nonprofit urged CEOs to invest in it

Georgia GOP gubernatorial hopeful vows to ‘ban DEI’ in state but his own nonprofit urged CEOs to invest in it

Rick Jackson, a Republican billionaire running for Georgia governor on a pledge to ban DEI in state government and public education, founded a nonprofit that promoted a 2021 workplace initiative urging Georgia CEOs to invest in DEI, measure progress, examine racial pay gaps, use race-conscious hiring practices and lead workplaces “with race in mind.” Jackson, the billionaire healthcare founder of Jackson Healthcare and its network of smaller companies, including Jackson Physician Search and Jackson Therapy Partners, has said he would be President Donald Trump’s “favorite governor,” modeled his campaign launch after the president’s and said he has never met a Trump policy he doesn’t like. Trump, meanwhile, has made ending DEI in the United States a key part of his second term, issuing an executive order shortly after he was inaugurated to remove it from public services, universities and beyond. His administration has also taken an aggressive stance against DEI in the courts. In addition to his for-profit companies, Jackson is the founder and CEO of goBeyondProfit, a Georgia nonprofit. The philanthropic venture describes itself as a “no-cost resource for Georgia business leaders interested in evolving their corporate generosity efforts into a business strategy,” and adds that Jackson has “long shared the belief that businesses can and should be a force for good in the world.” In 2021, goBeyondProfit launched a DEI initiative focused on keeping “race in mind” in the workplace, which included a video series for CEOs to learn the “do’s and don’ts” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The “Telly Award-Winning video series” aimed at helping companies implement DEI initiatives remains active on the nonprofit’s website. One of the videos promoted critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi’s book “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” which has been characterized by critics as a leading text of modern race-conscious ideology that rejects colorblindness and defends discrimination when used to achieve equity. The initiative also featured experts who argued “doing nothing” on DEI was “cringe worthy” and framed workplace race issues through slavery and Jim Crow. GOP GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL’S PRO-TRUMP PITCH TO VOTERS CLASHES WITH PAPER TRAIL INSIDE HIS OWN COMPANY Among those experts was then-Jackson Healthcare DEI executive Matthew Harrison, who, in the DEI initiative’s videos, touted how the share of “people of color” hired into new roles at Jackson Healthcare rose from 9% to 25% after the company implemented the diversity measures discussed in the initiative’s instructional videos. Jackson’s business orbit has a history of DEI-friendly messaging and efforts that could complicate one of his central campaign pitches: that he is the candidate best positioned to root out DEI and restore merit-based policies in Georgia. Jackson’s campaign platform says he would prohibit DEI programs in state government, public universities and classrooms, while his campaign messaging has vowed to “ban DEI insanity” and “criminalize reverse discrimination.” “We need to ban every bit of idiotic DEI insanity and criminalize reverse discrimination,” he recently posted on social media. Fox News Digital reached out to Jackson’s campaign, Jackson Healthcare and goBeyondProfit for comment, including questions about whether Jackson was aware of the “Race in Mind” initiative, whether he approved of the DEI materials at the time and how he squared the nonprofit’s past race-focused workplace efforts with his current anti-DEI campaign platform. “Rick hires like the Georgia Bulldogs: only the best players hit the field, and he will prohibit reverse discrimination as governor,” a Jackson campaign spokesperson said in response to Fox News Digital’s questions.  The campaign added that “many of Georgia’s most successful and conservative business leaders” have been “program ambassadors or members” at goBeyondProfit, citing Chick-fil-A’s involvement and the involvement of Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus until his death. In 2021, at the height of the social justice movement following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others, Jackson’s goBeyondProfit launched “Leading a Thriving Workplace with Race in Mind,” a DEI initiative that included a “Telly Award-Winning video series” aimed at helping CEOs navigate the “do’s and don’ts” of DEI and make “impactful changes” in their workplaces. NEARLY ALL FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES STILL MAINTAIN CORPORATE DEI COMMITMENTS: REPORT The goBeyondProfit video series featured DEI experts, including Harrison, a former Jackson Healthcare executive, urging CEOs and their companies to invest in DEI, measure progress, examine racial pay gaps and use race-conscious hiring practices to increase workplace diversity. In one video, Harrison described implementing a “Rooney Rule” hiring policy at Jackson Healthcare after he took over talent acquisition in 2019, saying the company increased the share of “people of color” hired into new roles from 9% to 25% within a year. “Personally here at Jackson Healthcare, I took over leading talent acquisition here in June of 2019 and put that in place, and within a year, we saw our increase in the number of people of color that we hired into new roles. It went from 9% to 25% and that’s the only thing we changed,” Harrison says. HOW TRUMP IS UPROOTING RADICAL ’60S FOUNDATIONS OF POISONOUS DEI AND CRT PROGRAMS A separate speaker from the DEI video series discusses the importance of tying DEI metrics to employee evaluations, encourages “taking those proactive steps and being anti-racist” as discussed in Kendi’s book that CEOs were encouraged to read, implored “employers do periodic pay equity reviews for their employees,” and urged executives to financially invest in DEI work, saying companies needed to “put your money where your mouth is” on DEI efforts.  That same speaker framed workplace race issues through slavery and Jim Crow, saying slavery was “America’s first race-based economic system” and arguing that the “vestiges of slavery” still live on “even in the American workplace.” “Oddly, the American workplace is the one place where we should be having more of these conversations, but ironically, it’s the one place where we’re least likely to do,” Harrison adds in one of the videos. Meanwhile, at another point in one of the videos, Harrison described how Jackson Healthcare started a “race series” using an outside vendor in order to prevent it

Cannes Film Festival 2026: a different carpet roll-out

Cannes Film Festival 2026: a different carpet roll-out

NewsFeed How big events shape the uprising and how the uprising shapes the big events. Cannes Film Festival 2026 mirrors today’s geopolitical, cultural and technological developments. Published On 15 May 202615 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)

FA Cup final: Man City’s season a success ‘regardless of trophies’

FA Cup final: Man City’s season a success ‘regardless of trophies’

Manchester City face Chelsea in the FA Cup final looking to add to their League Cup success and with eye on EPL title. Published On 15 May 202615 May 2026 Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City have had a successful season, whether or not they win the Premier League title or the FA Cup final against Chelsea on Saturday. Guardiola’s side will put their attempt to catch Premier League leaders Arsenal on hold as they head to Wembley for a fourth successive FA Cup final appearance. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list City start every season with the Premier League and Champions League as their main targets, but they are on the verge of falling short in both. Knocked out of the Champions League last 16 by Real Madrid in March, City will be five points behind Arsenal if the Gunners beat relegated Burnley at home on Monday. Guardiola’s men can close the gap back to two points with victory at Bournemouth in their penultimate match of the season on Tuesday. But Arsenal would then still be able to guarantee their first English title since 2004 by winning at Crystal Palace on May 24. Having already won the League Cup by beating Arsenal, City have a chance for a domestic double this weekend. However, Guardiola is adamant the campaign has been positive, no matter what happens at Wembley or in the title race. “It depends on the trophies you lift. Sometimes you lift trophies and the season has been successful,” said Guardiola, who would only offer “we’ll see” when asked if Rodri would be fit to start in midfield. “Sometimes, you lift and the truth is the season has been really, really bad. “I said a few weeks ago this season has been good. Really, really good.” After starting with Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku on the bench for Wednesday’s win against Crystal Palace, Guardiola is likely to field a full-strength team against Chelsea instead of prioritising the title fight. Advertisement “It is the final of the FA Cup. The message is there are two prestigious clubs at Wembley in the FA Cup final. Our fans make an incredible effort to come down to London. It is not cheap,” he said. “We try to perform as much as possible to win. It is always the game plan.” City have lost the last two FA Cup finals against Crystal Palace and Manchester United, who they had beaten in the 2023 showpiece. “There’s excitement, of course. I hope we can do better than the last two times,” Guardiola said. “Wembley is still a special place. Everything is so nice. The pitch is extraordinary. We are desperate to perform well.” Ahead of his 24th trip to Wembley with City, Guardiola joked that he is “so disappointed” he has not had a stand named after him at the home of English football. “So many times I have been there, at least a lounge or a box or something like that. Maybe I have to go 24 more times,” he said. Guardiola has one year left on his City contract and is yet to sign a new deal amid speculation that he could end his decade at the Etihad Stadium once the current campaign is over. Asked about reports that City’s fitness coach Lorenzo Buenaventura and goalkeeping coach Xabi Mancisidor are set to leave the club, Guardiola said with a smirk: “I extended the contract with them three more years,” before adding: “Nope”. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump says he discussed Taiwan arms sale with China’s Xi Jinping

Trump says he discussed Taiwan arms sale with China’s Xi Jinping

NewsFeed US President Donald Trump said he discussed US arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during talks in Beijing. Trump also said he is considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil. Published On 15 May 202615 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)