White House expected to nominate new leader for FAA

The White House plans to nominate veteran regulator and airline executive Mike Whitaker as the next leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency that hasn't had a Senate-confirmed chief for more than a year and a half during a time of significant strain on air travel.

President Joe Biden plans to nominate Whitaker as soon as Thursday, according to five lobbyists from various sectors of aviation who are close to Whitaker, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Whitaker, a former FAA deputy administrator and former executive at United Airlines, has been the subject of months of speculation that he would get the nod.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Whitaker's confirmation by the Senate probably isn't assured, considering that Biden's prior pick for the job, Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington, withdrew in March amid tepid support from Democrats and GOP criticism over his lack of aviation experience. Washington's chief critics included Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, which will vet Whitaker's nomination.

Whitaker has experience both with the private sector and at the FAA, but must convince senators that his skills are right to guide the agency through an especially fraught time for an aviation system still bouncing back from the pandemic — marked by repeated flight delays, a surge of near-misses earlier this year, and fights in Congress over a bill that would reauthorize the agency, which is due at the end of September.

If confirmed, Whitaker would have to navigate those challenges while ensuring the United States maintains its record on aviation safety, with more than 10 years since the last fatal airliner crash inside the country. That record, though, has been marred by questions around whether the FAA adequately oversaw the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX. Two of those planes flown by foreign airlines crashed overseas in late 2018 and early 2019, killing a total of 346 people and leading to multiple probes into how and why the FAA green-lit the planes.

Whitaker's name has been circulating among lobbyists and congressional aides since May, when former acting Administrator Billy Nolen announced that he would return to the private sector. The FAA's current acting leader is Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg, whose experience is primarily with transit and on Capitol Hill but who is a veteran in policy and the workings of Washington, D.C.

Whitaker served as deputy administrator from 2013 to 2016, as well as chief of the agency's air traffic control modernization effort known as NextGen, which has faced criticism over the years for delays and cost overruns. Before that, he spent decades in the airline industry, including 15 years leading international and regulatory affairs for United Airlines.

Most recently, Whitaker has been chief operating officer of Supernal, an air taxi company.

Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.