By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Transportation Department will tell a Senate committee on Wednesday he aims to ensure worldwide trust in U.S. planemaker Boeing after a 2024 mid-air emergency.
“I will work with Congress and the FAA to restore global confidence in Boeing and to ensure our skies are safe,” said Sean Duffy, a former U.S. House lawmaker, according to written testimony seen by Reuters.
The Federal Aviation Administration is maintaining tougher oversight of Boeing indefinitely, a year after a door panel missing four bolts flew off a new Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in mid-air. It has also barred Boeing from expanding production beyond 38 MAX planes per month.
Boeing did not immediately comment.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker plans to step down on Jan. 20, while Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson left the agency last week. Trump has not yet named a new nominee to head the department.
On Saturday, Trump said he was nominating Steve Bradbury, a former DOT general counsel, to serve as deputy DOT secretary.
Duffy will face a number of aviation issues including a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, aging FAA facilities and a series of dangerous near-miss incidents.
The FAA is still about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets and has about 10,600 certified controllers. In June, the FAA extended cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October 2025, citing a shortage of air traffic controllers.
“In aviation, safety will remain the top priority. America needs more air traffic controllers,” Duffy’s written testimony says.
Duffy also said Trump told him DOT “is a top priority for him and he wants to invest in rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”
Duffy said he “will work to reduce the red tape that slows critical infrastructure projects” and address U.S. traffic deaths, which rose after the start of COVID to their highest level since 2005 and remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)
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