US Transportation Secretary Duffy Visits SUNY Schenectady to Highlight FAA-Enhanced Air Traffic Control Degree Program
Why It MattersExpanding collegiate air traffic controller pipelines through FAA-authorized programs points to a broader federal push to address controller staffing shortfalls affecting airspace capacity nationwide.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy visited SUNY Schenectady on Monday, August 24, 2026, touring the college's Air Traffic Control Simulator Lab and meeting with faculty and students enrolled in the FAA-approved Enhanced Air Traffic–Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) degree program, which launched in Fall 2025. SUNY Schenectady is one of only 11 colleges and universities nationwide, and one of only four community colleges, authorized by the FAA to deliver the curriculum and training technology used at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, allowing students to complete the equivalent of the Academy's two-to-five-month program over two years with greater simulation time and faculty mentorship.
The simulator Duffy toured is described as the largest and most comprehensive controller simulator east of the Mississippi River, featuring three ATC tower stations, seven 75-inch monitors providing 215 degrees of tower immersion, four radar TRACON stations, ATSpeak phraseology training software also used by the U.S. military, and seven remote pilot stations for real human-voice responses. Duffy said the Trump Administration is working to expand the air traffic controller pipeline, noting nine Enhanced AT-CTI programs have launched under the current administration, while SUNY Schenectady President Dr. Nicole Reaves said Duffy expressed interest in working together to grow the program.
Among the students Duffy met were second-year student Jason Winston, who relocated from Norton, Massachusetts, and plans to graduate in May 2027 to begin working in an FAA tower, and first-year student Johnathan Leung, a U.S. Navy veteran who served on active duty from 2019 to 2024 and is among the first at the college to receive VA tuition benefits under the GI Bill following the Department of Veterans Affairs' recent approval of the program. The SUNY Reconnect program now also offers free tuition for New Yorkers aged 25 to 55 without a college degree enrolling in the college's Aviation Science and Enhanced Air Traffic Control degree programs. SUNY Schenectady has offered aviation education since 1996 and an Air Traffic Control Operator degree since 2010, with alumni going on to careers at Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United, Million Air, and Signature Aviation.
