According to reports posted as “confirmed” on Reddit, nine air traffic controllers at Albuquerque Center have resigned to accept positions with Airservices Australia, the government-owned ATC organization. They will be leaving later this year.
It isn’t just Australia - DoD is getting lots of applications from FAA controllers as well.
Maybe our Australian friends do not scapegoat their ATC controllers and no out of their skull grandiosity complex ridden idiots run around with chainsaws, looking to “optimize” them out of their retirement/ job?
Who would not jump on the opportunity… 
Not surprised. And their PM has an EQ higher than a five-year-old.
Surely we can “tariff” our way out of this situation.
Hmm. Similar pay and a country that’s not run by a group of incompetent sociopaths who want to destroy every government function? Sounds like a pretty good gig.
I suspect that maybe half of our certified controllers are too patriotic to seriously consider such an offer. Another quarter can’t or wouldn’t relocate for family or more practical considerations. The other quarter will probably be gone soon. We are in some deep sneakers…
Another 5ish are leaving Memphis center this year for AUS. Another 5-10 are seriously considering it. As a FAA controller for 10 years, I’m considering leaving. At some point it just not worth it anymore.
The NAS will likely lose 20-50+ controllers this year from the FAA. That’s millions in lost investment and millions in training to replace them. It might not sound like a lot, but we are already critically staffed.
Congress 2026 budget proposal cuts our retirement in various ways.
Current pay hasn’t kept up with where it was 15-30 years ago. Controllers make decent money, but if I’m working 6 days a week and missing my family, I want more.
If staffing continues to be terrible, equipment is constantly broken, and everyday we are scraping by to make it work…I want more.
Though there is the language barrier. Crikey! 
It’s been done before, but it was last century! I don’t recall there being any particular problems in integration, but I also don’t think any of them remained in Australia; I worked with one (Vietnam Vet like me) for a few years but even he finally packed it in and went “home”.
if I were a controller I would already be on my way!
Hi All. Relatively recent ATC retiree in Australia. There is no mandatory retirement age here. If you can pass medicals and proficiency checks, you can work as long as you want. A recent recruit is 60, I believe.
We have had controllers work into their 70s. There was a post COVID offer to encourage early retirement for anyone over 56 years old, about 3 years ago. This might have led to the confusion.
I know a couple of guys from the Class of '81 who went to AUS ATC. To the best of my knowledge, while they all succeeded as controllers there, I understand all of them returned to the USA eventually. The one expat to whom I spoke lamented the reluctance of the Aussie controllers to “accept” them socially. IOW, they weren’t invited to the Team barbie’s, etc. To some extent this was the same attitude expressed by a few American controllers when some of us were rehired.
Not sure about the social exclusion question, Australians are pretty welcoming. But Australia is not as easy going as they pretend! But probably more friendly than the US.
One thing you may find strange is the self deprecating sense of humour. It can be weird to Americans.
As far as the ATC goes, there obviously is not as much traffic, but there are also far fewer controllers, who do a lot in a lot of airspace. Mainly because there is a shortage of people, and it has become the new normal. Overtime is rife, but still optional. There are still plenty of can-do people, but they are more and more being outnumbered by the can’t-do OHS PC GenZ Millenial Cancel Culture types who can’t make a decision and end up pushing a desk instead of tin. It is the biggest frustration of the good people. Being shut down by incompetence. As well as the revolving door of management - not dissimilar to the FAA. Go in with your eyes open and ignore the BS, and you will enjoy it. Of all the places you can live and work in the world, AUS is still up there.
It is probably not a bad time to be away from the US anyway