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The Senate Commerce Committee recently advanced the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) Hiring Reform Act of 2019, which addresses the shortage of qualified air traffic controllers.

The bill would enable the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prioritize the hiring of veterans and graduates of FAA Certified Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) schools. CTI schools have a higher retention rate during air traffic control qualification training at the FAA Academy.

CTI program graduates can bypass the FAA Academy’s Air Traffic Basics Course.

The University of North Dakota “is a world leader in aviation and aerospace education, and it only makes sense that we use CTI schools like this to ensure our nation has an adequate supply of quality air traffic controllers,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), who introduced the bill with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), said. “Our bill removes red tape and allows the FAA to fill a greater share of its ATC positions with candidates from these institutions. Doing so will preserve the safety of our nation’s airspace and help provide a better air travel system for people across the country.”

The legislation also removes the 10 percent hiring pool limitation, which requires the FAA to have no more than a 10 percent difference in the number of hires between its hiring pools.