Airline execs gave big to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's campaign amid dust-up over FAA

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was the beneficiary of a recent, unrivaled burst of financial support from airline executives among her Senate colleagues who also oversee the industry and whose terms are also ending next year.

Five different airline CEOs and the chair of another directly contributed to Sinema, I-Ariz., between April and June. Only one other person on the Senate Commerce Committee whose term expires in 2024, as Sinema’s does, received support from even one airline CEO.

The financial backing extended beyond the top executives and Sinema’s principal campaign committee.

Overall, three committees linked to Sinema collected at least $135,000 from donors who identified themselves in campaign finance reports as working in the airline industry in the second quarter. Nearly all the donors identify themselves as executives.

Sinema’s total led her nine peers on the Commerce Committee who are up for reelection, including Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who heads the committee, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the top GOP member of the panel.

Historically, Sinema and her committee peers have received significant support from the airline industry, according to figures from OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics, but it is Sinema, who isn’t even a declared candidate at the moment, who is quickest to receive campaign cash this year.

The support came as the Commerce Committee is helping shape the periodic reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, legislation that helps determine the rules guiding the airlines. It also arrived as Sinema has trailed in new fundraising against Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is running for her seat and relying more on small-dollar donors.

The heads of Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian and United airlines all gave to Sinema in the most recent fundraising quarter. So did the chair of Southwest Airlines. Those airlines combine for 76% of the nation’s domestic market share, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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Cantwell was the only other senator on her committee who is facing voters next year who also received money from an airline CEO this year. That came from Ben Minicucci, CEO of Alaska Airlines.

The FAA’s reauthorization comes before Congress as the nation’s air-traffic systems face a troubling number of near-miss incidents on runways, a situation the agency’s acting administrator described earlier this year as “concerning.”

The FAA’s reauthorization came to a surprising halt in the Senate Commerce Committee in June, in part over a provision favored by Sinema and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to allow the agency to modify pilot-training rules if the FAA deems the changes safer than current practices.

In aviation circles, it is a contentious issue that is backed by regional airlines. The aviation industry is grappling with pilot shortages amid rising passenger traffic, and is opposed by the union that represents those in the cockpit.

At a Monday event with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council in Phoenix, Sinema sidestepped the issue of financial support and high-profile, safety related criticism of her amendment from Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who in 2009 safely landed a crippled US Airways jetliner in New York’s Hudson River.

“I hadn’t seen any of his comments, but I will tell you that Sen. John Thune and I are working on an amendment that would actually enhance pilot training and ensure that pilots who are in accredited schools can use some of the hours … in simulators towards their pilot training,” Sinema told reporters.

“Now, this is actually important because in simulation training, you experience really tough weather conditions that you probably don’t ever experience in real-life training as you’re getting towards those 1,500 hours. So, the bottom line is that Sen. Thune and I are working together with our colleagues, Sen. Cruz, Sen. Cantwell, to find an agreement that works for everyone,” she said. " … Arizonans know that I continue working hard for all of the achievements we talked about today, and I’ll continue doing just that. I’ll leave the partisan politics to someone else.”

Sinema has not officially said whether she is seeking another six-year term next year, but records show her campaign spent more than $800,000 between April and June even as her fundraising has lagged by her usual standards.

Sinema’s amendment found unusually blunt condemnation from another senator and from Sullenberger, a national flying hero.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former combat pilot who chairs the subcommittee on aviation safety that Sinema previously headed, attacked those backing the training changes. Duckworth said it would leave “blood on your hands.”

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Last week, Sullenberger ripped Sinema over her backing for the amendment and pointed to her support from the industry.

“While not surprising, this is disgusting and disappointing,” he wrote in a pair of tweets. “I have spent a lifetime dedicated to making air travel safer, but this critical and life-saving work is about to be undone with one amendment to a bill.”

Elements of the Sinema amendment, however, have been outlined to the FAA before. In 2016, for example, a committee that advises the FAA on training standards detailed multiple proposals to modify early-stage pilot training standards based on college education and military experience.

“In many cases, flight simulators have proven to provide more thorough training than can be accomplished in the aircraft,” the report said in one section. Even so, the recommendations made clear there are limits to alternative training.

“Airmanship skills cannot be attained through ground training; they are learned, developed and honed only through actual flight experience,” it notes in another section.

Last year, the FAA rejected the request of a single smaller carrier that sought to help attract more pilots through an exception to the current pilot-training rules. The FAA denied the request, saying pilot recruitment isn't part of its duties and opted to preserve its current flight education foundation.

Sinema has said Cantwell asked her earlier this year to help forge bipartisan agreement on a plan for the FAA.

The agency has operated without a permanent administrator for more than a year. Phillip Washington, a nominee to head the FAA, bowed out earlier this year after Sinema and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., along with Senate Republicans, withheld their backing for him.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously passed its version of an FAA reauthorization bill the same week the Senate’s version froze.

The pending reauthorization plans brought a flurry of lobbying by the airline industry this spring on many issues, from tracking customer complaints to flight-related taxes to “aviation workforce supply.”

About the same time, airline CEOs targeted Sinema’s campaign committees.

On May 29, Scott Kirby, CEO of United, gave her campaign $4,000. Two days later, Minicucci, the CEO of Alaska Airlines, gave her $1,500.

On June 5, Robert Isom, American’s CEO, gave her campaign $5,000. The same day, he gave another $5,000 to the Sinema Leadership Fund, a PAC that has transferred $2 million this year to Sinema’s campaign or to another affiliated PAC, Getting Stuff Done.

On June 8, Gary Kelly, the current chairman and former CEO for Southwest Airlines chipped in $2,500. Later that month, he gave Sinema’s campaign $1,500 more.

On June 12, Edward Bastian, the CEO of Delta, gave $3,300 to the Sinema Leadership Fund.

Overall, Delta executives and the company’s PAC gave Sinema’s affiliated committees more than $54,000. American’s executives and corporate PAC gave her nearly $47,000. Executives or PACs with Southwest, Hawaiian, United and Alaska airlines provided her nearly $25,000.

Airlines for America, an industry advocacy group, gave her campaign $6,000 since late May.

A PAC for the Allied Pilots Association, the nation’s largest labor union for pilots, gave her $2,000 on June 30.

Two weeks earlier, the FAA’s reauthorization stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee after Sinema’s amendment that Duckworth specifically condemned.

The amendment would allow the FAA to consider changes to the current 1,500-hour rule for commercial pilot training, an idea considered for years. The changes would only happen if the FAA determined it made flying safer.

The Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller, domestic airlines, has supported changes to training rules as the industry grapples with a nationwide shortage of an estimated 5,000 qualified pilots.

“Most pilots only have access to an hours-based pilot qualification standard, which incorporates little actual training after completing flight school,” the RAA said in statements on proposed changes in April.

“To maintain safety, every regional airline has significantly expanded its training footprint, but more candidates fail out today than they did before the qualification standards favored flight time over quality training.”

Southwest said earlier this year it must park at least 40 planes a day because of pilot shortages. That airline tries to make up for its pilot shortage by hiring from smaller carriers, the Associated Press reported.

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In January, United's Kirby told investors that, “pilots are and will remain a significant constraint on capacity.” He said that United, Delta, American and Southwest planned to hire 8,000 pilots this year — at least 1,000 more than in a usual year.

The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots, said the amendment “undermines the current aviation safety regime that has resulted in the safest period in air travel in history.”

The amendment could change the way credit hours are tallied, potentially allowing some pilots to fly with as little as 500 hours of training, a return to rules as they existed before a 2010 overhaul by Congress, the association wrote.

“It was this shameful era of training pilots quickly and on the cheap and the resultant series of tragic accidents, including Flight 3407 outside of Buffalo, N.Y., that led Congress to pass” changes, the group wrote.

In a statement, Hannah Hurley, a spokeswoman for Sinema, said the amendment's detractors are ignoring its safety-focused intent.

"Kyrsten is laser focused on ensuring America's airspace remains the safest in the world. At a time when the FAA and the Department of Transportation have called attention to the alarming rate of near-miss incidents, Kyrsten — following the recommendations of safety experts — proposed a bipartisan amendment that would enhance the safety of pilot training by allowing the FAA to investigate ways to make pilot training more diverse and robust.

"Unfortunately, bombastic, partisan talking points distract from the shared goal of ensuring pilot and aviation safety."

OpenSecrets identfied Sinema as the No. 3 recipient of air transportation money in the 2018 cycle, with about $85,000. Cruz came in first with $156,000 that cycle.

Between 2018 and 2022, eight of the nine senators on the Commerce Committee whose terms expire next year have appeared in OpenSecrets' top ranks for senators from the air transportation industry at different times.

Sinema, for example, ranked seventh in 2022 with about $56,000. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranked eighth that cycle with $51,000. When Sinema ranked third in 2018, Tester ranked fifth with $57,000.

But Sinema appears to have pulled away from the others in the early months of this year.

Cantwell’s campaign received more than $11,000 from donors identified as working for airlines this year. An affiliated committee that raises money for her didn’t report taking in any money from that industry.

Cruz’s campaign collected $6,300 this year and an affiliated committee took in another $7,600.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., received $7,900 from both types of committees this year.

From there, the financial support falls off, with six senators receiving a combined $8,000 to their campaigns or affiliated PACs.

They include Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; and Tester.

The race for Tester’s seat is generally viewed as among the most competitive in the country, while Sinema’s seat presents the possibility of a rare three-way contest. Rosen’s seat is also considered potentially competitive.

Republic reporter Rafael Carranza contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: With FAA plan up in the air, airline execs gave to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema