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Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker listens to a question during a news conference about the FAA’s work to hold Boeing accountable for safety and production quality issues, May 30, 2024, at Federal Aviation Administration headquarters in Washington.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker will resign on Jan. 20, leaving the key agency he oversees. Boeing and the US aviation industry again without a leader.
Whitaker was confirmed to serve a five-year term last October. He put production limits and increased agency scrutiny After Boeing’s January near-disaster of the Boeing 737 Max’s door plug, which had been in the works for months.
Mark House, the FAA’s assistant administrator for finance and management, will become acting deputy administrator.
The agency has seen constant leadership changes in recent years, some of the most turbulent in the US aviation industry, including two crashes and subsequent groundings of Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max jets, the Covid-19 pandemic and high-profile series. -Profile calls and security issues involving US airlines and airports.
Trump’s latest nominee to lead the FAA, Exdelta the captain Steve DicksonHe resigned in 2022, halfway through his term.
“You’ve seen leadership come and go, and through every transition you’ve kept air travel stable and safe. This transition will be no different,” Whitaker said in a statement.
A spokesman for the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office on January 20, had no immediate comment.
Trump has yet to appoint an FAA administrator. His nominee, if confirmed, will face a number of challenges, including continuing oversight of Boeing and modernizing air traffic control and staffing. The shortage of controllers has angered airline executives, who have blamed staff shortages for congestion at some of the country’s busiest airports.
