Trump Transportation Dept nominee says he’ll work to revive international confidence in Boeing

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to go the Transportation Division will inform a Senate committee on Wednesday he goals to make sure worldwide belief in U.S. planemaker Boeing (NYSE:BA) after a 2024 mid-air emergency.

“I’ll work with Congress and the FAA to revive international confidence in Boeing and to make sure our skies are secure,” stated Sean Duffy, a former U.S. Home lawmaker, in keeping with written testimony seen by Reuters.

The Federal Aviation Administration is sustaining harder oversight of Boeing indefinitely, a yr after a door panel lacking 4 bolts flew off a brand new Alaska Airways Boeing 737 MAX 9 in mid-air. It has additionally barred Boeing from increasing manufacturing past 38 MAX planes monthly.

Boeing didn’t instantly remark.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker plans to step down on Jan. 20, whereas Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson left the company final week. Trump has not but named a brand new nominee to go the division.

On Saturday, Trump stated he was nominating Steve Bradbury, a former DOT normal counsel, to function deputy DOT secretary.

Duffy will face a variety of aviation points together with a persistent scarcity of air site visitors controllers, getting older FAA services and a collection of harmful near-miss incidents.

The FAA remains to be about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets and has about 10,600 licensed controllers. In June, the FAA prolonged cuts to minimal flight necessities at congested New York Metropolis-area airports via October 2025, citing a scarcity of air site visitors controllers.

“In aviation, security will stay the highest precedence. America wants extra air site visitors controllers,” Duffy’s written testimony says.

Duffy additionally stated Trump informed him DOT “is a high precedence for him and he needs to put money into rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”

Duffy stated he “will work to scale back the crimson tape that slows vital infrastructure initiatives” and deal with U.S. site visitors deaths, which rose after the beginning of COVID to their highest degree since 2005 and stay properly above pre-pandemic ranges.