Senators Duckworth and Durbin Press FAA to Release Remaining 2.8% Controller Pay Raise

U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin sent a letter Friday to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford urging him to approve the remaining 2.8% of a congressionally authorized pay increase for air traffic controllers. Congress set aside $140 million in April for a 3.8% raise for controllers, but controllers have so far received only the 1% increase given to all federal employees.

The legislation made the additional 2.8% contingent on Bedford determining that improvements had been achieved in workforce scheduling, staffing utilization, or other operational efficiencies addressing staffing shortages and improving aviation safety, a determination left entirely to the FAA administrator's discretion. Duckworth and Durbin argued in their letter, obtained by CBS News, that the statutory requirements are "not a high bar." The senators also pushed back on the FAA's focus on controller utilization, writing: "Squeezing more 'utilization' out of air traffic controllers who have been understaffed, underpaid and overworked for years will weaken retention and undermine aviation safety."

The dispute follows release of the FAA's 2026–2028 Controller Workforce Plan, which identified controller scheduling as an opportunity to improve operational performance. The plan noted that controllers averaged about four hours of time on position during an eight-hour shift and estimated that modern scheduling tools could raise that figure above five hours. The FAA also acknowledged that mandatory overtime from fiscal years 2023 through 2025 exceeded levels it considers reasonable and can contribute to fatigue, burnout, and retention problems.

Bedford indicated that an agreement with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on scheduling and workforce utilization could allow the remaining raise to take effect this year. "We talk about all the things that we feel like we need to do to unlock more productivity," Bedford told the Washington Examiner last month. The FAA told CBS News it plans to work with NATCA to review existing scheduling practices and identify changes intended to improve productivity, safety, and controller quality of life. NATCA said it "continues to advocate for meaningful improvements for controllers, including the pay parity wage increase passed by Congress, through ongoing engagement with the FAA." Duckworth and Durbin concluded their letter by calling on Bedford to "expeditiously approve the pay increase."

This dispute illustrates how a pay increase already authorized and funded by Congress can still hinge on a single official's discretionary sign-off, turning a budget question into a negotiation over workplace productivity metrics. Linking part of a raise to scheduling and utilization improvements gives the agency leverage to press for operational changes, but it also means controllers who are already working understaffed shifts see their compensation held up pending an efficiency finding they do not control.

Air traffic control staffing sits at the center of broader aviation-safety debates, and the FAA's own workforce plan shows the tension: raising average time-on-position from about four hours toward five hours in an eight-hour shift depends on new scheduling tools, yet the agency has also acknowledged overtime levels it considers excessive over the past three fiscal years. That combination, more time on position and less overtime, is the productivity gain Bedford has pointed to as a precondition for the remaining raise.

What resolves this now depends on whether the FAA and NATCA reach agreement on scheduling and utilization changes, since Bedford has tied the timing of the 2.8% increase to that outcome. Bedford has not stated when a determination will be made, so the next concrete signal will be whichever party announces terms of that agreement first.