Mike Whitaker’s resignation comes at a time of turmoil for the agency, which is facing air traffic controller shortages and aging equipment.
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration is resigning in January, leaving the aviation safety agency without a confirmed chief in the middle of a major probe into safety problems at Boeing and amid ongoing challenges with air traffic controller shortages and aging equipment.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, who has earned bipartisan respect in roughly a year on the job, said he will resign on Trump’s inauguration day, in a letter to his workforce calling the job the “honor of a lifetime.”
“The United States is the safest and most complex airspace in the world, and that is because of your commitment to the safety of the flying public,” Whitaker said. “This has been the best and most challenging job of my career.”
Whitaker took over the five-year position in October 2023 at a troubled moment for the agency as it grappled with a rash of aviation near-collisions and challenges in replenishing its depleted air traffic controller workforce — all before a door panel flew off a Boeing 737 MAX midair rattling the flying public.
Though the agency under Whitaker’s leadership appears to have arrested the alarming rate of near-collisions seen since travel began to rocket away from its pandemic-induced slump, it still faces significant ongoing challenges in the form of a fatigued and shorthanded air traffic controller workforce and an aviation system whose growing demand for flights is throttled by already-decrepit equipment that grows more obsolete each year.
That’s on top of the ongoing and significant challenge posed by quality control problems at Boeing, which the FAA has had under a microscope since a piece of a Boeing 737 MAX plane flew off midair in January. No one was hurt, but the incident sparked multiple probes, some of which are ongoing, and congressional scrutiny amid alarming whistleblower claims about shoddy manufacturing at the planemaker.
Whitaker’s departure is not exactly surprising — rumors that he was considering his future at the agency have swirled for weeks — but the decision does come early in the tenure of what should be a five-year hitch.
Whitaker didn’t start until Oct. 2023. That lag time was the culmination of not having had a Senate-confirmed leader for 18 months after President Joe Biden’s first pick, Denver airport executive Phil Washington, flamed out after Republicans balked at his relatively thin aviation resume. (Washington spent most of his post-military career in transit.)
Typically the post is non-partisan, and by law the person who fills it must have experience in the industry in some form. Trump’s first-term pick for the FAA was Steve Dickson, who served for years at Delta Air Lines prior to filling the post.
It remains to be seen whose names might float to the top for Trump’s second term, but he has been filling posts at a rapid clip. One potential pick could be Dan Elwell, who has been informally advising his transition team on aviation matters. Elwell is a pilot and former airline industry executive, and also served as acting head of the FAA for a stint during Trump’s first term.
Whitaker, a former FAA deputy administrator and former industry executive for outfits like air taxi company Supernal and United Airlines, faced little opposition to his confirmation and enjoys a good reputation on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers in the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced his nomination just weeks after his October confirmation hearing.
Lawmakers from both parties questioned at the time whether the agency had the ability to adequately tackle safety incidents that continued to pile up: Republicans chastised the Biden administration for these lapses, and Democrats were unhappy that the agency was without a permanent leader for so long.
But Whitaker has since been seen as a steady force for the agency — and the answer to Boeing’s ongoing manufacturing lapses. House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to cite Whitaker as the reason they believe aviation safety has seen a turnaround.
On Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who chairs the Senate’s panel on aviation, offered kudos to Whitaker, who “has been doing an excellent job.”
There’s “very bipartisan support for him,” she told reporters during a call. “I hope that he does stay in place. He’s really working hard to keep the public safe, including important oversight of Boeing, and I’ve heard a lot of bipartisan appreciation for his efforts. So I hope that he does get to stay,” she said.
Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, told POLITICO he had hoped Whitaker would stay longer, calling it “unfortunate news, ‘cause Mike is doing a great job.”
He said whoever Trump selects, they don’t need to “change or fix” the plan the FAA is implementing to oversee Boeing. Larsen has Boeing’s Everett plant in his district.
“The pieces are in place for Boeing to be productive long-term, not just building airplanes but building safe airplanes,” he said.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chair of the Transportation Committee, said Whitaker called him Thursday morning to tell him the news. “It was kind of expected,” Graves said.
Asked if there’s anyone he thinks should be considered for the role, Graves demurred, saying the “transition team I’m sure is working through that process, trying to find good candidates,” but added the first priority is to get Trump’s nominee for Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, confirmed.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), likely the next chair of the Commerce Committee, on Thursday said Whitaker “ably led the agency during a challenging period,” and said the committee next Congress will heavily focus on making the airspace safe and efficient.
“The next administrator needs to be ready day one to continue the job of restoring the FAA’s safety culture and providing real oversight of the aviation sector,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the current Commerce chair, said in a statement. Echoing Cantwell, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) who heads the Senate subpanel on aviation, added that Whitaker’s oversight of Boeing has been “important” and that the pressure on the aerospace company “must continue.”
Sam Ogozalek contributed to this report.