Antoine Wilson worked as an air traffic controller in Miami for 15 years before taking leave last August.
“I'm burned out,” Wilson said. “I feel you don't have a life, and I've been a short staffer since I started my career.”
Wilson is also the owner of travel agency Ad Elite Travels and co-founder and CEO of Melanated Safaris, a tour operator that offers a variety of vacation products at Zanzibar. He launched two companies while he was an air traffic controller, but at the end of last summer he began to focus on two travel businesses full time.
It was an accident in which a military helicopter killed 67 people after a crash in a Washington, DC plane in January, and many of Wilson's travel advisory colleagues contacted him. They wanted to know what role air traffic controllers played in the incident. Wilson received a similar call after a Delta line flight crashed on the Toronto runway in February.
“And I told them, 'It's nothing to do with air traffic control,” Wilson said.
Wilson is listening to audio recordings of communication between the air traffic controller and pilots involved in both the accidents currently under investigation by the Canada Transport Safety Board and the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB).
So is it safe to fly? This is what Wilson and others have to say.
Is it safe to fly?
American Airlines – Advocacy groups representing airlines such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines said in a statement on February 28 that the US is currently facing a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers. Wilson said he hears that number is right for him.
“I have friends who are air traffic controllers all over the country. Everyone says the same thing,” Wilson said. “Everyone says, 'We work six days a week, which is from Miami to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and even Phoenix.
Despite pressure on many air traffic controllers across the country today, Wilson quickly reassured anyone worried about air travel.
“I confidently say that aviation and US air traffic are the safest in the world, and from a travel perspective, people should not be afraid to fly.
According to NTSB data, the number of fatal US aviation accidents has actually been steadily decreasing each year over the past 20 years, falling from the peak of 339 fatal crashes in 2004 to 179 fatal aviation accidents nationwide in 2024.
The total number of fatal domestic air force collisions has also declined year-on-year in 2025, according to the NTSB. There were 58 fatal accidents nationwide in January 2024, and 70 more fatal accidents last February. According to NTSB data, 52 fatal aviation accidents occurred this January, and 65 hit in February.
Our National Space System travels 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers daily to over 29 million square miles of airspace. There are a lot of it.
“The United States has the world's safest aviation system,” said Tori Emerson Burns, vice president of public affairs and policy at the American Travel Association. “Our National Airspace System travels 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers to more than 29 million square miles of airspace every day. There's plenty.”
Burns has acknowledged nearly 3,000 US air traffic controller shortages and expressed support for U.S. Transport Secretary Sean P. Duffy's recent plan to “compensate the employment of air traffic controllers.”
“This staffing shortage has been a known issue for over a decade, and the administration is committed to solving it,” Duffy said in a statement.
Are vacationers still flying?
Peter Vlitas, vice president of partner relations relations at Indonva Travel Group, said his company has not seen a real DIP in bookings after the plane crashed earlier this year.
“There's a short range of attention for American consumers,” Vlitas said. “There may have been some degree of anxiety in the short window of the incident, but it has disappeared. In fact, no one is saying, 'Oh, I'm scared of flying.' ”
Our National Space System travels 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers daily to over 29 million square miles of airspace. There are a lot of it.
Wilson of Ad Elite Travels witnessed a similar response from travelers, or a lack of it.
“There were no clients who refused to travel or said they were afraid of traveling due to the last few incidents,” he said.
The Vlitas also quickly defended the safety of the flight.
“The air remains one of the safest means of transportation, and the pudding evidence is that there are plenty of planes and people are on vacation. There is no blip in it,” he said.
However, Internova executives agreed that the shortage of US air traffic controllers is a substantial issue, and that they specifically point out some delays at busy airports caused by staffing issues.
Related: What are your rights during flight delays or cancellations?
“I went on a flight to New York – coming from Washington, DC or Dallas. “Why? Because air traffic control is maintained (airplanes). And this happens because there are not enough trained FAA controllers. ”
Vlitas said a significant portion of the shortage of air traffic controllers today was the result of suspending the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controller training program during the pandemic.
“The government needs to focus on obtaining more trained FAA controllers,” he said. “It's not because it's not safe, but rather that it reduces some of the airport's crowds during peak hours.
