Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed Monday that, despite several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees being fired Friday night, none were air traffic controllers or “critical safety personnel.”
Duffy took issue with his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, asking questions on Monday about the recent layoffs, specifically: “How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?”
The Trump administration has slashed jobs at numerous federal agencies in the weeks since Trump has taken over the White House, thanks to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Federal Aviation Administration has been among those targeted with cuts, despite a number of crashes in recent weeks under Trump’s watch.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union told The Guardian that “several hundred” workers received termination notices on Friday.
The agency was already understaffed, and with four serious crashes since Trump’s inauguration, pressure is mounting for the administration to fix the problem.
One air traffic controller—who was not authorized to speak publicly—told the Associated Press that fired workers included those hired for FAA radar, landing, and navigational aid maintenance.
A Transportation Department official told the outlet that it would look into whether such workers could be considered critical safety personnel.
On Monday night, after providing updates on the latest air incident where a Delta flight from Minnesota crash-landed in Toronto, Duffy accused Buttigieg, on whose watch no fatal U.S. commercial airline crashes occurred, of having “failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system.”
Duffy, claiming that that process is now underway, continued: “Here’s the truth: the FAA alone has a staggering 45,000 employees. Less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.”
He raged at Buttigieg while claiming “over 90 percent of the workforce under his leadership were working from home—including him.” Duffy added: “The building was empty!
“I will not rest until I return the Department of Transportation and its incredible employees to its mission of efficiency and safety.”
Elon Musk weighed in similarly Monday that, “To the best of our knowledge, no one affecting safety has been fired.”
