Feb 17, 2025 - Business

FAA fires hundreds of staff amid Trump admin job cuts drive

Rebecca Falconer

Sean Duffy, US secretary of transportation, during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy during a January news conference at the White House. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Trump administration fired "less than 400" of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 45,000 employees, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday evening.

The big picture: The Trump administration's push to make large-scale reductions in the federal workforce in a cost-cutting drive has been criticized by some, including the union that represents the FAA and Duffy's Democratic predecessor, Pete Buttigieg.

Driving the news: Duffy's comments on X were in response to Buttigieg's criticism.

Those "let go" were "all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago," Duffy said.
He added: "Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go."

Zoom out: David Spero, the leader of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union, which represents FAA employees, said in a Saturday statement that the agency "is already challenged by understaffing."

Spero said the action was "unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month," including the fatal collision near Reagan Washington National Airport outside D.C. between a passenger plane and Army helicopter, which killed 67 people.
Duffy's post did not address Spero's comments that the affected employees had been sent messages "from an 'exec order' Microsoft email address," rather than an official .gov address.

Read the full X exchange between Duffy and Buttigieg below:

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FAA fires hundreds of staff amid Trump admin job cuts drive

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