How Air Traffic Controller Training Works
Civilian controllers are usually trained in two parts. The first is rating training, in a classroom and on a simulator, for one type of service. The second is training at the unit where they will work. The employer publishes the length. It is not one number for the profession.
· by Michal Zembol
The employer runs it
You do not assemble the course yourself and then present it to an employer. The organisation that will employ you, or a training organisation it appoints, runs the programme for the units it staffs. A course for a tower is not a course for an area centre. A course in one country is not the entry route for the next.
Selection comes first. The tests, the medical, and any security check are that campaign's. Passing them puts you on a course. It does not make you a controller. How the application sits in front of training is covered in How to Become an Air Traffic Controller.
Rating training
The first part teaches one type of service. Aerodrome, approach, and area are different courses. In many states, procedural control and surveillance control are different courses as well. The training uses classrooms and simulators. Knowledge and practical work are assessed during the course, not only at the end.
A person in this phase is not working live traffic. Where the state issues a student licence, that document comes after this initial training and is what allows supervised practice at a unit. The United Kingdom does it that way. The UK Civil Aviation Authority says a student air traffic controller licence permits an air traffic control service only for unit training, under the supervision of an on-the-job training instructor, and only in the discipline the initial training covered.
Unit training
The second part is at the unit. The airspace, the procedures, and the traffic are that unit's. The trainee works under instruction. Another aerodrome, another approach unit, or another centre's sectors are a different endorsement, even when the rating name is the same.
The phase ends when the controller is checked out for the positions the endorsement covers. Until that assessment is passed, the trainee is still in training. The licence, the rating, and the unit endorsement are set out in Licence, Rating and Unit Endorsement.
The length is the employer's
Published lengths are the plan for someone who passes each phase and continues. They change with the specialism and with the unit. A figure from one employer is not the figure for the next, and a figure from an old campaign is not the figure for a course that has not started.
What NATS, the FAA, NAV CANADA, and others have published for 2025 and 2026 is in How Long Does It Take to Become an Air Traffic Controller? NATS's own recruitment steps, college sites, and 2026 pay are in NATS Air Traffic Controller Recruitment.