On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that he will offer air traffic controllers the ability to stay on the job past the current mandatory retirement age of 56, “pay them more, give them a bonus, keep them on the job,” and that he has the authority to make such an offer.
Duffy said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:30] “So, we can work on the air traffic control system, as well as, we have a plan to get rid of the bottlenecks, get more of the smartest kids into the air traffic control academy. But, Sean, once they graduate, it takes them a year to three years to get trained up in a tower. So, that’s going to take time.”
He added, “But I’m going to make an offer to air traffic controllers to let them stay longer. That’s my authority. I can offer them the chance to stay longer, past the mandatory retirement age of 56, pay them more, give them a bonus, keep them on the job, make the system safer, alleviate the pressure on the controllers. They’ll make more money. Hopefully, they’ll say yes to that great offer that I’m going to make them in the coming days.”
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