In an effort to solve the decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers across U.S. airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a new hiring campaign targeted at video gamers interested in new career opportunities.

“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt. This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on April 10.

Announced last Friday, the FAA’s new air traffic controller hiring window opens at 12 a.m. ET on April 17, allowing interested candidates to apply for what the agency calls “one of the most dynamic jobs in the world.”

The FAA has faced a significant shortage of air traffic controllers since the 1980s, with thousands of retirements during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the deficit. Congress has provided the agency with supplemental funding over the past two years to increase staffing, and the Trump administration said it has thousands of trainees in the pipeline.

The FAA is also not the first federal agency to target video gamers with keen hand-eye coordination and quick decision-making skills for high-stakes positions. Both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security have deployed similar strategies for tech-related roles in complex environments that require hours of focus.

The FAA is rolling out a new YouTube ad with bright and fluid graphics asking gamers, “Are you up for the challenge? You’ve been training for this.”

The ad entices gamers by comparing air traffic control tower computer workstations to video games, while promising an average salary of $155,000 per year after three years on the job.

“It’s not a game ... it’s a career,” the ad says.

In the Transportation Department’s hiring announcement, the FAA says young adults who possess “demonstrated high cognitive functions, multitasking, spatial awareness, [and] strategy and problem-solving” may have useful skills that are transferable to working as an air traffic controller.

A university degree is not required to apply to the controller academy, the FAA said, noting that only roughly 25 percent of working controllers graduated from college. The agency also highlighted how controller exit interviews have revealed “gaming as an influence on their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity.”

“I’ve always said there’s a lot of characteristics that are in gaming that are similar to the aptitude for a successful aircraft controller. You’re usually dealing with multiple aspects of the game,” said Margaret Wallace, a former military air traffic controller and an assistant professor of aviation management at Florida Institute of Technology.

These game skills include multitasking with voice and hand movements, teamwork, memory, and quick decision-making, Wallace told The Epoch Times, adding that stressful on-the-job situations for controllers are comparable to some high-intensity video games.

The FAA may also be targeting younger generations in this way, as applicants must be under 31 years old to apply to the controller academy, Wallace said.

In 2025, the Oklahoma controller academy saw its record year of enrollment, with almost every seat filled, the FAA said. Applicants were moved through the pipeline four times faster as the Transportation Department streamlined the process and increased its instructor workforce by 15 percent.

This has allowed the FAA to see its highest staffing level in six years, with nearly 11,000 in service and 2,400 being onboarded since March 2025.

Even so, that is thousands of positions short of the 14,633 target that the agency described as ideal full staffing across all U.S. airspace in an August 2025 report.

The new hiring window will close after the FAA receives 8,000 applications. Those interested are encouraged to apply early on USAJobs.gov.