Aviation safety issues have drawn much attention from the international community due to the growing demand for air travel. Although it is a widely accepted fact that human-related factors are closely linked to aviation safety, there is lack of understanding what roles those factors play in aviation, in the field of air traffic control in particular. It has been reported that the role of air traffic controllers significantly affects air safety. This review will discuss cognitive aspects of expertise in air traffic control including time perception, working memory, reasoning, perception, attention, scanning/vigilance, decision making, and planning with examples of how each aspect can be dealt with in performing air traffic control duties. The relevant studies in psychology have also been briefly reviewed in the interest of enhancing understanding of characteristics of air traffic control tasks and the related human factors. This review concludes with a call for more in-depth research into cognitive factors in air traffic control.