Sponsors (2)
The bill seeks to ease military-to-FAA air traffic controller transitions and reduce FAA staffing shortages by aligning credentials, improving hiring and safety, at the cost of potential training expenditures, short-term delays for some service members, and added administrative burdens.
Traveling public, FAA operations, and FAA air traffic employees: aligning military air traffic credentials with FAA requirements could speed hiring into FAA Air Traffic Organization vacancies, reducing staffing shortages that contribute to flight delays and safety risks.
Military personnel and veterans who served as air traffic controllers: the bill directs identification of training and credential gaps and recommends fixes to help them transition more smoothly into FAA civilian air traffic jobs.
FAA air traffic specialists and unions: requiring involvement of exclusive bargaining representatives ensures frontline workforce input on implementation and workforce impact decisions.
Taxpayers, DoD, and FAA: aligning credentials may require investment in training or certification programs, potentially increasing costs that could fall on DoD, FAA budgets, or taxpayers.
Some military air traffic controllers and veterans: standardization may expose credential gaps that delay immediate civilian employment until equivalency or additional training is completed.
DoD, FAA, and working-group staff: creating and running the alignment/reporting process may increase administrative workload and reporting burdens, diverting staff time from operations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs a federal working group to produce recommendations and identify barriers to transition military air traffic controllers (series 2152) into FAA civilian controller roles and credential equivalency.
Official title: To amend the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 with respect to the activities of the joint aviation employment training working group, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Laura Gillen · Last progress December 16, 2025
Requires the Joint Aviation Employment Training Working Group to develop and deliver recommendations, in consultation with exclusive bargaining representatives of FAA air traffic control specialists, to improve how military air traffic controllers (Armed Forces series 2152) transition into civilian FAA air traffic control occupations. The working group must identify training, credentialing, phraseology, systems, technology, and standardization barriers and include those findings in its reports to inform steps that help Military Personnel obtain FAA-equivalent credentials before separation.