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Overview
Air traffic controllers guide aircraft movements by giving pilots information on height, speed, course, take-off, landing and routes near airports or along major air corridors.
In job descriptions, look for control tower work, radar equipment, aviation meteorology, checklists, IFR procedures, airport regulations, radio communication, spatial awareness and stress tolerance.
Explore this occupation
Open in Job ExplorerWhat the work can involve
Air traffic controller work is built around live aircraft movement. Controllers use tower, radar, meteorological and communication information to sequence traffic, support take-off and landing and reduce collision or congestion risk.
Skills and specializations
Useful depth includes air traffic control operations, radar equipment, aviation meteorology, airport standards, IFR pre-flight procedures, navigational calculations, checklists, spatial awareness and clear radio communication.
Salary context
Salary context depends on the control environment, traffic volume, tower or radar duties, shift pattern, procedural responsibility, training role, emergency exposure and the level of simultaneous aircraft coordination.
Career paths
Paths can move toward senior controller duties, instructor work, supervisor roles, tower or radar specialization, procedure development, flight-check support or safety and operations coordination.
Good to know
Check whether adverts name tower control, approach control, radar, meteorological monitoring, flight checks, checklists, 3D displays, multiple communication channels, stress handling or shift coverage.
Editorial note
This guide is editorial career context. It is not official labour-market statistics or role-specific salary data.
Map overview
Click the map to search for air traffic controller jobs.
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O*NET relationships
See occupations connected to this ESCO occupation in the official O*NET–ESCO mapping. The relationship type comes from the source and is not a ranking or recommendation.
O*NET relationships: 1
Air Traffic Controllers
53-2021.00
Exact relationship
The official mapping treats the O*NET and ESCO occupations as closely equivalent.
Open in O*NETSource and method
These relationships come from the official European Commission O*NET–ESCO crosswalk.
Relationship direction: O*NET occupation to ESCO occupation.
Several O*NET occupations can point to the same ESCO occupation, and one O*NET occupation can point to several ESCO occupations.
AltoTrail preserves the source relationship type. The order is technical and does not show which occupation is best, most relevant or recommended.
AltoTrail validates and presents the source relationships without adding ranking or recommendation semantics.
Alternative labels
Occupation group
Air traffic controllers (3154)
Source facts
| ESCO URI | http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/3c2da05f-eb24-41f7-8307-46c96660fee0 |
|---|---|
| ESCO code | 3154.1 |
| ISCO group | 3154 |
| Concept type | Occupation |