Donald Trump FAA firings: Which roles are affected by layoffs?
Hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees were laid off last week and Newsweek has broken down what we know about which roles were affected.
Newsweek has contacted the FAA and the Department of Transportation, via email, for comment.
Why It Matters
The layoffs come in the wake of several aviation accidents across the country in recent weeks.
Most recently, a Delta Air Lines jet overturned while landing in extremely windy conditions on Monday, only weeks after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger plane over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., claiming the lives of all 64 passengers, as well as the three helicopter crew members.
AP
What To Know
A shortage of air traffic control personnel has been cited by several people as a reason for the crashes, including a former safety adviser to the FAA and U.S. Air Force, Alan Diehl.
Former Democratic Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?”
Current Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has said no air traffic controllers were fired, but some are still questioning the decision to fire multiple workers during this time.
Out of the approximately 400 employees who were laid off—out of the FAA’s 45,000 total workforce—none of them were air traffic controllers or critical safety personnel, Duffy, said in a response to Buttigieg on X.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union told Reuters that the roughly 300 workers it represents who had been fired included maintenance mechanics, aeronautical information specialists, aviation safety assistants and management and program assistants.
“These are positions that are vital to supporting public safety,” a spokesperson said.
Similarly, an air traffic controller told The Associated Press that those fired included people hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance.
A Transportation Department official told the AP that the FAA has “retained employees who perform critical safety functions.”
What People Are Saying
New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer wrote on X: “I’m thankful that everyone in the flight incident in Toronto that took off from Minneapolis is safe, but we keep seeing these incidents day after day. Meanwhile, Trump’s doing massive layoffs at the FAA—including safety specialists—and making our skies less and less safe. Democrats are fighting to protect the flying public.”
A Delta Air Lines jet flipped onto its roof while landing Monday at Toronto Pearson Airport, but all 80 people on board survived, and those injured sustained relatively minor wounds, the airport’s chief executive said.
I’m thankful that everyone in the flight incident in Toronto that took off from Minneapolis is safe, but we keep seeing these incidents day after day.
Meanwhile, Trump’s doing massive layoffs at the FAA—including safety specialists—and making our skies less and less safe.…
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 17, 2025
Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, who is on the Senate Commerce Committee, said on Monday: “The FAA is already short 800 technicians and these firings inject unnecessary risk into the airspace—in the aftermath of four deadly crashes in the last month.”
What Happens Next
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has said it is “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.”
The Department of Transportation said the FAA “continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals, including mechanics and others who support them.”
