White House inaction forces another FAA leadership change

The Federal Aviation Administration is poised to get its third acting chief in a year and a half — prolonging the uncertainty at the top of the air safety agency as the Biden administration struggles to name a permanent leader.

The FAA’s current leader, acting Administrator Polly Trottenberg, will have to step down on Oct. 25 because of provisions of the law that governs presidential nominees. The FAA confirmed Trottenberg’s looming departure in an internal email first reviewed by POLITICO. 

Trottenberg wrote in a email to FAA employees "my time at the FAA will come to a close on October 25th. At that time, if there is no confirmed administrator, Katie [Thomson] will become the Acting Administrator. I will transition back to serving as deputy Transportation secretary."

The turnover comes amid a spate of flight delays, air traffic controller staffing shortages and aviation near-misses that have alarmed lawmakers as air travel resurges from its doldrums during the pandemic.

Unless the Biden administration and the Senate move at lightning speed to nominate and confirm a new candidate by October, the agency’s next temporary leader will be Thomson, an attorney with a long career handling transportation issues, including at the FAA and Department of Transportation. Thomson currently serves as deputy administrator. Trottenberg said in the email that Thomson's previous experience as FAA's chief of staff, chief counsel and Transportation Department's general counsel "are huge assets for the agency."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on when the president will name a nominee to take the job permanently. Trottenberg said in the email "the White House is closing in on naming a nominee soon."

The White House has insisted that the administration has a deep bench of competent professionals who can run the agency until a permanent administrator is found, but lawmakers and the industry have grown increasingly wary of the 16-month vacancy at the top of the agency.

But when it comes to choosing a leader who would be responsible for ensuring safety in the nation’s skies for a five year term, the administration has faced repeated setbacks since the FAA’s last permanent chief, Trump-era Steve Dickson, announced his retirement in February of 2022.

Biden tapped long-time transit chief Phil Washington for the post in July 2022, only to withdraw him in March after lawmakers of both parties raised concerns about his lack of aviation experience. 

Meanwhile, two interim administrators have led the agency. Billy Nolen, an expert on aviation safety and former pilot, became acting administrator after Dickson left, and was floated for the permanent job by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). But Nolen was never nominated by the White House and left for air taxi venture Archer Aviation in June.

The White House then named Trottenberg, the deputy secretary of Transportation, who has a long resume mostly involving transit issues. The White House acknowledged that Trottenberg was a placeholder while it continued the search for a permanent administrator.

Leadership at the agency has taken on fresh urgency because of questions about the upswing in near-misses earlier this year, which prompted Nolen to convene a safety summit in March. The most recent incident occurred Aug. 11 in San Diego, when a business jet overflew a Southwest Airlines plane by just 100 feet, according to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. Controllers had cleared both planes to use the same runway, the FAA said.

Former FAA Deputy Administrator and former United Airlines executive Mike Whitaker is considered the White House’s likely nominee for the position, according to lawmakers, aviation lobbyists and media reports. However, the administration has not announced a nominee or said when it expects Biden to make a decision.

Even if Biden were to nominate a choice in the coming weeks, the Senate would not be able to act on it until it returns from the August recess after Labor Day. Having a nominee vetted and through the Senate confirmation process before Trottenberg is forced out in October would be an aggressive timetable — by way of comparison, Washington’s nomination lingered for eight months and over two different Congresses before he finally withdrew.

Trottenberg, who also serves as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg’s No. 2, is prevented by law from leading the FAA for more than 210 days — a clock that expires in October.

The 210 day clock started on March 30, when Washington’s second nomination was withdrawn (the White House was forced to renominate Washington at the start of the new Congress in January). That means Trottenberg’s last day — assuming a nominee isn’t confirmed beforehand — will be on October 25th.