The longest government shutdown in US history ended Wednesday, and air traffic controllers — who can have very stressful jobs — are finally getting paid again.
Controllers went more than a month without pay, receiving two $0 checks since October. With the government reopened, they’ll now receive full back pay, which many will need to pay overdue bills.
The shutdown reignited debate over controller salaries after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that new hires start at $180,000 and can make up to $400,000. But the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and three working controllers told Business Insider those numbers are unfounded and that it takes most controllers years to reach those levels, if they ever do.
“A majority of our controllers do not make anywhere near that money, especially on the $400,000 side,” NATCA union president Nick Daniels said, adding that new hires start in the mid-five figures. Washington, D.C.-based controller Pete LeFevre said some colleagues turned to gig work during the shutdown because they live paycheck to paycheck.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows the estimated mean annual wage for controllers is about $137,000. Two controllers say their contract, last negotiated in 2016, hasn’t kept up with inflation. It includes a 1.6% annual raise and has been extended through at least 2029.
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When asked for clarification on Duffy’s comments, a Department of Transportation spokesperson told Business Insider that “the average certified professional controller earns over $160,000 per year” within three years of leaving the academy.
On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold some back pay from controllers who took time off. The controllers are set to receive their back pay starting Saturday.
To gain a better understanding of how much controllers earn, from recent graduates to veteran controllers, Business Insider reviewed the pay scale published by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The annual base pay range is wide, about $55,000 to $225,700, due to a controller’s experience and the flight volume at their facility; their compensation is also adjusted for that area’s cost-of-living.
That’s before any incentive or overtime pay. Here’s a closer look at how controller pay is determined, as well as the salaries of the lowest and highest earners.
Most new controllers start closer to $55,000
Pay increases with experience and facility complexity. The FAA assigns each location a level from 4 to 12, with higher levels handling more traffic and offering higher pay.
New controllers — those who have graduated from the ATC academy in Oklahoma City or earned their qualification via other means, like college — start between about $55,000 and $68,000, according to the FAA table. That’s regardless of facility level.
Those in high-cost areas or busier facilities earn more. San Francisco, for example, is at the top of that range, with tower controllers making around $68,000 a year. Controllers can work up to 10 hours a day and six days a week. Overtime is often mandatory.
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To become a controller requires months of training at the FAA Academy, where roughly 40% of trainees wash out, Daniels said. He added that it costs about $100,000 to train one candidate.
The job of air traffic control is to maintain separation between aircraft by using radar and other flight-following tools, as well as communicating with pilots.
With the workforce short about 3,000 controllers, a high attrition rate adds pressure to an already stretched system.
Graduates then enter extensive on-the-job training at one of three types of FAA facilities, per NATCA:
- Air Traffic Control Tower, or ATCT: Controls airport traffic on the ground and up to around 30 miles out.
- Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON: Manages departures and arrivals within about 20 to 50 miles of the airport, up to around 17,000 feet.
- Air Route Traffic Control Center, or ARTCC: Handles high-altitude en route traffic above 17,000 feet across wide regions of land and sea.
Some airports combine towers and TRACONs for efficiency. New controllers typically start at lower-level facilities.
For example, a Level 4 tower in Erie, Pennsylvania, starts at about $55,000. That same base rate applies to most facilities nationwide: St. Petersburg, Florida’s Level 7 tower also starts just under $55,000.
However, cost-of-living adjustments raise base pay in pricier regions — Manchester, New Hampshire’s, Level 4 tower starts at about $61,700, for example, because it’s in the Boston area.
Training pay increases as graduates complete each step toward full certification, and the facility level becomes a factor. Pay generally rises to the high five figures after several years. Once fully certified, these controllers would get near or exceed the six-figure mark.
For Erie, the maximum base pay is about $95,700. It’s up to about $108,300 in Manchester and up to about $132,600 in St. Petersburg, per the FAA table.
The highest-paid controllers handle the most traffic
The busiest skies bring the biggest paychecks. While many controllers begin at lower-level towers and TRACONs, some are assigned to higher levels from the start if they have prior experience or to meet FAA staffing needs.
Fully certified controllers at a Level 8 tower in Milwaukee can earn a base pay of up to $153,200; Level 9 Minneapolis tops out near $176,500; and Level 12 facilities, such as Chicago O’Hare’s tower or the Southern California TRACON in the San Diego area, reach $225,700.
Many controllers are trained specifically to go to a center, which are Levels 10 to 12. These ARTCCs, which handle millions of planes a year, offer more pay to account for the high volume of traffic.
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At the Seattle center, which oversees 300,000 square miles across six states, controllers can eventually earn up to $209,000, including cost-of-living adjustments.
Still, the year-one base pay in Seattle is about $61,000. It’s about $62,000 in Southern California and about $57,000 in Milwaukee — meaning, regardless, controllers will spend years at lower levels of pay before they can climb into the higher tax brackets.
Beyond base pay, controllers receive incentive pay for working at facilities that are harder to staff and premium pay for overtime, nights, Sundays, or holidays.
