Airfield Operations Specialists
Ensure the safe takeoff and landing of commercial and military aircraft. Duties include coordination between air-traffic control and maintenance personnel, dispatching, using airfield landing and navigational aids, implementing airfield safety procedures, monitoring and maintaining flight records, and applying knowledge of weather information.
15,190 people do this job in the US. $56,850 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 33%
- 9%
- 58%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 18%. Today's estimate: 20%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform and supervise airfield management activities, including mobile airfield management functions.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Plan and coordinate airfield construction.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 8%Half by Sep 2027 | |
| Conduct inspections of the airport property and perimeter to maintain controlled access to airfields.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 11% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Implement airfield safety procedures to ensure a safe operating environment for personnel and aircraft operation.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect airfield conditions to ensure compliance with federal regulatory requirements.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 9% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Train operations staff.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor the arrival, parking, refueling, loading, and departure of all aircraft.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Manage wildlife on and around airport grounds.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Coordinate with agencies to meet aircrew requirements for billeting, messing, refueling, ground transportation, and transient aircraft maintenance.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | 96%Half by now | |
| Assist in responding to aircraft and medical emergencies.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Procure, produce, and provide information on the safe operation of aircraft, such as flight planning publications, operations publications, charts and maps, or weather information.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 99%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Air Traffic Controllers71% now, 73% by 2028
- Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors30% now, 30% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants37% now, 54% by 2028
- Commercial Pilots24% now, 27% by 2028
- Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers9% now, 11% by 2028
- Aviation Inspectors17% now, 26% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).