Aviation Support Services NAICS 4881

Sep 4, 2025 - FAA Instructor Shortage Hampers Recruit Training

• The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) push to hire thousands of new air traffic controllers amid a shortage has proved fruitful in terms of promising candidates, but the agency is having trouble finding enough qualified instructors to train them. After launching a hiring blitz in mid-March, the FAA has referred 8,300 candidates for testing, while increasing the agency’s training academy roster in Oklahoma City by 30% to 550 students as of July. However, the agency’s goal of hiring 8,900 new controllers by 2028 is slow going because instructors must be previous certified controllers themselves with on-the-job airport experience. Instructors have historically worked days that can last up to twelve hours with low pay, a tough sell for many qualified instructors. It takes four years to be certified as a controller, and a recent FAA workforce plan revealed the current pace will only yield 1,000 instructors by the deadline.
• The union for United Airlines’s flight attendants voted down a proposed new contract offering them a 26% raise along with a one-time retroactive bonus and an additional holiday. United flight attendants have not received a pay increase since 2020. The airline and the union representing 28,000 cabin and crew members had agreed to a tentative deal in May, but 71% of voting members still elected to axe the deal as not good enough two months later. The union says it will now survey its employees to see what kind of contract is acceptable for the next round of talks. Industry observers were surprised that the union rejected a hefty pay raise, but flight attendants are adamant that it is not enough to reward them for years of service to the company. The proposed offer is on par with other recent airline/union agreements, putting both sides in tenuous positions.

• Airlines experienced strong demand for flights headed into the 2025 summer travel season, but that good news is also shining a light on the shortage of available commercial jets due to production delays at the world’s largest airplane manufacturers - Boeing and Airbus. Both companies have fallen short of their deadlines for delivery of new aircraft to customers, resulting in industry-wide capacity boosts of only 1-3% for the summer season, according to EasyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis. Europe’s Airbus delivered 56 jets in April 2025, an 8% drop year over year. Boeing, which has been consumed with safety crises and production problems for several years, is slowly improving this year and delivered 45 jets in April, which doubled from March. However, airplane delivery totals for both companies in Q1 indicate they will have trouble meeting their targets for the year, per aviation analytics firm Cirium.
• The aviation industry has seen substantial merger and acquisition activity in recent months, according to Goldman Sachs. Alternative investment firm Stonepeak agreed in October to acquire aircraft leasing and support provider Air Transport Services Group for about $3.1 billion. Apollo Global Management acquired Barnes Group, a 167-year-old provider of engineered products and innovative solutions, for $3.6 billion in early October. Snow Peak Capital purchased TurbineAero, a provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aeroengine components, while H.I.G. Capital acquired STS Aviation Group from Greenbriar Equity Group.