The FAA's top spot sits vacant as air travel faces a summer surge

The White House is scrambling to find a new leader for the Federal Aviation Administration, leaving the agency without a Senate-confirmed head as the U.S. ramps up for its busiest travel season since before the pandemic.

President Joe Biden’s first choice for the job, Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington, withdrew in March after a monthslong opposition campaign led by Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Now, even though the position has been open for more than a year, the White House is again casting about for a candidate who can make it through the Senate committee that oversees the agency, according to a dozen aviation industry insiders, lawmakers and Senate aides.

It’s an especially fraught moment for the FAA to be without a leader who can take bold action as traffic surges to pre-2019 levels, delays spike and a worrying uptick in near-collisions on runways fuels safety concerns.

The agency has an acting administrator, but his decisions don’t have the heft of someone with a Senate-granted mandate to lead — such as spearheading major changes that might be needed to avoid a catastrophe while also keeping up with new technologies such as drones and air taxis.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a helicopter pilot who leads the Senate subcommittee in charge of the FAA, said bluntly that she's been frustrated with the delay and that a candidate needs to be put up “as soon as possible.”

The Republican crusade against Washington created partisan rifts that could leave the post vacant for months to come. Washington, a former municipal transit official and member of Biden’s transition team, didn’t have any aviation experience until he took the top job at Denver’s airport in 2021. Cruz and Wicker, both senior lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, repeatedly hammered his nomination as a patronage hire.

But now, Cruz has embraced the person who’d likely be confirmed by the Senate the fastest — Billy Nolen, the acting administrator of the FAA and a former pilot and safety expert. That may tarnish Nolen’s chances with Democrats, who are still angry that Cruz torpedoed Washington’s nomination.

Shortly before Washington withdrew, Cruz publicly floated the idea that he would support Nolen for the job.

“A number of Democrats have expressed privately to me that they think it is a reasonable suggestion,” Cruz said in an interview last week. “To be clear, I don’t know Billy Nolen, it’s not like he’s a Republican or a friend of mine. He was Joe Biden’s choice to be acting administrator, he just happens to be qualified for the job.”

Nolen was a long-time pilot for American Airlines before taking on safety-related roles at American and Airlines for America, a trade association representing major U.S. airlines. He then held safety-related executive roles at Qantas and WestJet before joining the FAA as associate administrator for aviation safety in early 2022. Nolen held that role for less than four months before becoming acting administrator.

Whether or not the White House wants to elevate Nolen, he’s clearly acting the part, including television appearances and a high-profile decision to call a safety summit to try to get ahead of cracks in the system that may be behind the recent uptick in near misses.

"He’s [Nolen] clearly running for it. I’m not sure Cruz’s endorsement helps him though," said one aviation industry lobbyist who was granted anonymity to describe private conversations about the White House's stance. "What I’ve heard is the White House is going to nominate someone in the next couple weeks. I don’t think they are asking the Hill what they want."

The White House did not respond to requests for comment. But after Washington withdrew, the White House pledged to pick a new nominee quickly and blamed Washington’s exit on a Republican smear campaign.

Senators on the Commerce Committee last week confirmed that the White House hadn't reached out to them about a potential nominee, though Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), a major supporter of Washington's, said he would prefer someone who isn’t already working at the FAA. So far, Nolen has yet to pick up any public support from Senate Democrats.

In supporting Washington, some Democrats — including Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who chairs the Commerce Committee vetting the nomination, have said they prefer someone not part of the revolving door of the aerospace industry.

In the Senate, Democratic ire is also focused on holdouts within their own party that helped tank Washington’s nomination — chiefly Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who were noncommittal ahead of a committee vote on Washington’s nomination. That vote ultimately was postponed at the last minute. Washington withdrew shortly after.

Duckworth has blamed “one person” for the postponed vote but declined to say who.

And Senate Democratic aides also seem frustrated with the White House, with one suggesting it failed to understand the dynamics of the committee, on which Sinema sits and where Democrats have a one-vote majority.

“You can’t ignore Sinema,” said a Democratic aide who requested anonymity to recount private conversations. “The White House didn’t understand it, and his confirmation hearing showed that she wasn’t on board.”

They also groused that the White House didn't account for Washington's relative lack of aviation experience or the perception among Republicans that his nomination was a patronage pick.

A second aviation industry representative, granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said the White House is considering potential nominees beyond Nolen and agreed that it is wary of handing Cruz another victory.

“My understanding is the only person who really wants Billy is Ted Cruz,” the aviation source said. “The administration really seems interested in picking someone else.”

Cruz said his initial endorsement of Nolen was on a whim, after turning around to speak with his staff during a Commerce Committee hearing.

“I turned back to my staff and said, ‘What do you think about Nolen? Would it be crazy for me to suggest right now that they should withdraw Washington and nominate Nolen?’” Cruz said on his weekly podcast. “And my guys were like ‘No, that’s fine.’”

Duckworth said that elevating Nolen to the top FAA job would be "relatively smooth" because he's already in a senior position, though she was not explicitly backing Nolen for the job.

"He's already inside the agency. It would be relatively smooth in terms of him stepping up in that way, but I have not talked to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle," Duckworth said. "He's one of the names that gets floated on a regular basis."

But Duckworth was referring to the potential confirmation process should Nolen garner Democratic support, which he doesn’t yet have. In the runup to the vote on Washington that the Commerce Committee abruptly abandoned, most Democrats who took a public position, including Cantwell, said they supported Washington because he doesn’t have any ties to the aerospace industry. Nolen, meanwhile, has more than 30 years of experience working at airlines.

Lobbyists and representatives from the aviation industry who spoke with POLITICO, many of whom work for companies or associations that did not weigh in on Washington’s nomination, said their main priority is getting someone confirmed.

Another aviation industry lobbyist agreed that won’t happen any time soon, however.

“It’ll be months — you have the individual work that Senate Commerce will do,” the lobbyist said, adding that getting someone confirmed by this summer will be nearly impossible. “We realize the timeline is not great.”

Valery Miftakhov, CEO of ZeroAvia, which is developing hydrogen-powered aircraft, said not having a Senate-confirmed leader means "we cannot expect to see the FAA take anything but small steps and it will be difficult to set the strategic direction."

For instance, Miftakhov said his company’s attempt to create zero emission aircraft amid growing climate concerns “could end up sitting on a shelf in the FAA waiting for a willing advocate.”