This may be true, but it's not properly reflective of this particular situation. While it's true that it takes 2-3 years to fully certify, the initial academy (

This may be true, but it's not properly reflective of this particular situation. While it's true that it takes 2-3 years to fully certify, the initial academy (a few months long) still has limited spots. ATC staffing problems did not just appear this week. The FAA is limited by Congress in how to deploy its budget towards recruitment. Congress passed a bill earlier in 2024 authorizing the FAA to hire at the maximum capacity possible (https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2024/05/faa-will-soon-be-able-hire-thousands-new-staff-reauthorization-bill-heads-bidens-desk/396599/ https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2024/05/faa-will-soon-be-a...). Action is possible. We've known since the initial post-COVID travel bump that the FAA was short on controllers - these could have been addressed potentially as early as late 2022. Infact a 2-3 year timeframe is absolutely short enough to count as "short term". Thats within an election cycle.