Several hundred employees of the Federal Aviation Administration of the US have been fired as part of the adjustments of the new administration of President Donald Trump to cut expenses in the government budget.
The government of the US President Donald Trump has begun to fire several hundred employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), during a busy weekend of air trips and only a few weeks after A fatal collision at Ronald Reagan airport from Washington.
The workers in the trial period received emails sent late on Friday night to notify them that they had been dismissed, David Spero, president of the Union of Specialists in Professional Aviation Safety, said in a statement.
Affected workers include contracted personnel for radar maintenance, landings and FAA navigation aid, according to an air traffic controller The Associated Press. The controller was not authorized to talk to the media and asked to remain anonymous.
In a message posted on the social network X on Monday night, the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, said that less than 400 FAA employees were fired and that “zero air traffic controllers and crucial security personnel were fired” .
A transport department official told the AP on Monday morning that the agency has “held employees who perform crucial security functions.” In a subsequent consultation, the agency indicated that they would have to investigate whether radar workers, landings and affected navigation aids were considered in charge of crucial security functions.
The National Association of Air Traffic Controllers pointed out in a brief statement on Monday that it was “analyzing the effect of federal employees reported on aviation safety, the National Air Space System and our members.”
Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and secret early alert radar system that the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii, intended to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program funded partly by the Defense Department. It is one of several programs that manages the National Defense Program of the FAA Airspace System, which involves radars that provide long -range detection around the country's borders.
Due to the nature of his work, the office staff normally provides an extensive knowledge transfer before retirement to ensure that institutional knowledge is not lost, said Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, one of the employees of that branch that was fired.
Hawaii's radar and the FAA defense program office that works on it are “dedicated to protecting national security,” said Spitzer-Stadtlander. “I don't think they even knew what the NDP does (acronym in English of the National Defense Program). They only thought: 'Oh, it's not much, he just works for FAA'. “
“This is about protecting national security, and I am terrified,” said Spitzer-Stadtlander. “And the American public should also be.”
Spero indicated that the messages began arriving on Friday after 7 pm and continued until late at night. More employees could be notified during the long weekend or they could be prohibited from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he added.
The employees were dismissed “without cause or based on performance or behavior,” said Spero, and the emails came from “a Microsoft 'executive order' email address, not a government mail address.
The layoffs hit FAA at a time when it faces the shortage of controllers. For years, federal officials have expressed concerns about an overloaded and lacking air traffic control system, especially after a series of nearby incidents between airports in the United States airports. Among the reasons that have cited for the shortage of personnel are non -competitive salaries, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.
In the fatal accident of January 29 between a Black Hawk helicopter from the army and a passenger plane from American Airlines – which is still under investigation – a controller was handling the traffic of commercial airlines and that of helicopters at the same time in the busy airport.
Just days before the collision, Trump had already fired all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Commission, a panel whose creation was ordered by Congress after the attack against Panam 103 flight about Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The Commission has the responsibility of examining security issues in airlines and airports.
Spitzer-Stadtlander suggested that his dismissal was due to his opinions on Tesla and X, previously Twitter, and not as part of a general raid at the test level. Both companies are owned by Elon Musk, whose government efficiency department leads Trump's effort to cut the federal government.
Doge did not respond at the moment to a request for comments. CNN reported the dismissals in the first instance.