FAA Fast-Tracks UND Air Traffic Control Graduates into Workforce

 University of North Dakota students train in a 360-degree airport tower simulator. (Shawna Schill/UND Toda via the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor staff) – Air traffic control graduates from the University of North Dakota will be able to bypass training at a Federal Aviation Administration academy and enter the workforce more quickly.

The FAA said  that UND is the latest of a select group of colleges to qualify for the Enhanced Air Traffic – Collegiate Training Initiative program.

The FAA’s designation means that beginning in the spring of 2025, UND graduates can bypass the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.

Graduates of UND’s air traffic management program will have to pass the FAA’s air traffic skills assessment, meet medical and security requirements and pass performance verifications before taking up work in a control tower.

The program is an FAA initiative to increase staffing in airport control towers.

UND is among the first universities to be admitted into the program along with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma.

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said in a news release that the FAA Academy program created a “bottleneck” that slows down hiring and contributes to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

“We need more qualified air traffic controllers out in the workforce, and it makes sense to leverage the expertise of the John D. Odegaard School of Aviation to meet this critical need,” Hoeven said. “That’s an incredible value to students and a benefit to communities across that country, whose local economies rely on safe and reliable air service.”

UND graduated its first air traffic controllers in 1971.