Advanced ATC unveils progress of HQ at Craig Field

Advanced Air Traffic Control owners Dan and Monica Cunningham had a dream of teaching hundreds of students to become air traffic controllers each year out of five locations across the country. 

They got their Valdosta, Ga., site running successfully starting in 2009. 

Now their attention is on their Selma training center at Craig Field. 

Last June, Advanced ATC announced it was bringing the air traffic control academy to Craig Field and, a year later, they showed off the major progress made to renovate a 30,000-square-foot former State Trooper training facility into classrooms and offices that will eventually churn out air traffic controllers by the hundreds every year. 

Dan and Monica Cunningham and their staff told the Rotary Club of Selma on Monday of their plans for the school alongside local leaders who helped make it possible to bring them to Selma, Wayne Vardaman of the Selma-Dallas County Economic Development Authority and Jim Corrigan of Craig Field. 

Advanced ATC has invested about $2.2 million so far in their academy at Craig Field, and EDA has brought in $5 million in state and regional incentives and grants to prepare the former Air Force base for industries like ATC and others. 

Advanced ATC is one of four big projects EDA has lured to Selma-Dallas County in the last two years, which is a record number of deals in that short timeframe for the area, Vardaman said. And most of the industries pay $20 an hour, which goes a long way in Selma. 

“We’ve never had a stretch like that before,” he said. 

One of the four new industries also operates at Craig Field. Resicum brought an aviation academy to a renovated hangar and teaches flight and airplane maintenance.  

Advanced ATC’s first program that has already started at the Craig headquarters teaches domestic air traffic controllers, which is limited to 20-25 students a year, Cunningham said. Their growth will be in teaching international clients that has no limit and could mean hundreds coming to Selma for weeks or months at a time for a variety of courses. 

So far, ATC has hired seven employees to work in Selma and could have as many as 120 faculty and staff when they reach full capacity of teaching 400 students a year, Cunningham said. 

ATC has started teaching the first batch of two students, including one from Dallas County. 

The one-year course costs $50,000, but Cunningham says that isn’t as high as a four-year degree, and they will be hired on with the FAA or private industry making six figures. 

The first phase for Advance ATC was building a temporary remote tower, which opened on the flight line in January. Having air traffic controllers operating at Craig Field instead of Montgomery has brought more airplane traffic – and fuel consumers – to spend money in Selma, Cunningham said. 

The next step is setting up a virtual tower that will communicate with 40 towers and be operated by air traffic controllers at his program and out of their new headquarters. 

A major issue that is being solved now is where to house students when they’re in Selma for the air traffic controller courses. ATC is renovating a former barracks at Craig Field to use as a dorm. 

Monica Cunningham, who serves as CEO while her husband Dan is chief operating officer, teared up while talking about seeing their vision come to life in Selma. 

“The people here have sold us (on Selma),” she said. “The community has felt so welcoming.” 

The Cunninghams have eyed Craig Field and Selma since 2017, but other projects have fallen through. They kept talks open with Vardaman, who was able to sell the innovative plan for Selma to state Commerce Department Director Greg Canfield and, eventually, Gov. Kay Ivey, who helped put together incentive packages. 

“Relationships are important,” Vardaman said. “We prayed through this whole thing.”