The World Needs More Air Traffic Controllers. Is It Safe to Fly?

A spate of plane accidents, botched landings and near-misses in the US and abroad has raised widespread concerns about air safety. While the likelihood of a plane crash remains incredibly low, experts are concerned that a global shortage of air traffic controllers could make flying more dangerous.

Air traffic controllers – whose job it is to coordinate the movements of hundreds of thousands of aircraft in the skies each day – have been in short supply, a problem that was exacerbated by the Covid emergency, when global travel ground to a halt. While demand for travel has rebounded and flight activity is back at 2019 levels, attempts to re-staff airport control towers has proven difficult.