The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Wednesday it will be allowing two Oklahoma schools to move forward with programs that would allow new air traffic controllers to skip the agency’s training academy.

The agency is looking to reduce bottlenecks as it attempts to reverse a longstanding slide in air traffic controller staffing.

CBS News New York has learned the relocation of 24 air traffic controllers in late July caused hundreds of flight delays at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will begin taking new applications for flight controllers Oct. 11 as it works to reverse a decades-long decline in its workforce.

The Federal Aviation Administration says that graduates of two college air traffic control programs can now bypass the agency’s backlogged training academy.