FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will resign on January 20, the day of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Whitaker was appointed by President Biden and confirmed in October 2023 for a five-year term.
Aviation watchdog JonNYC reports on word that JSX CEO Alex Wilcox is a finalist to run the FAA.
Alex Wilcox finalist for FAA…supposedly multiple interviews
When asked about this report, a JSX spokesperson offered only that they “have no comment at this time.”
Alex Wilcox, right, in front of a JSX aircraft
Wilcox was a founding executive at JetBlue and President and Chief Operating Officer of oneworld member Kingfisher Airlines. I interviewed Wilcox at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Aerospace Summit in September.
At JSX he’s managed to achieve net promoter scores of 75 or above from customers, while going significantly beyond part 135 safety regulations. For instance, in addition to a Safety Management System, JSX has an Aviation Safety Action Program more typical of a large part 121 airline, providing for voluntary, confidential employee reporting of safety-related issues as well as a Flight Operational Quality Assurance program analyzing flight data to identify safety trends and improve operations.
Until a new Administrator is appointed, Assistant Administrator for Finance and Management Mark House is slated to assume the role of acting deputy administrator. Whitaker was preceded by Steve Dickson, who had been Delta Air Lines senior vice president of flight operations prior to his retirement.
Alex Wilcox at JSX Media Day, March 2023
The next FAA Administrator will face challenges involving oversight of Boeing, antiquated air traffic control compounded by staffing challenges, and whether to kowtow to ALPA, American and Southwest in cracking down on smaller part 135 carriers who are necessary for the development of electric aircraft (and therefore ceding competitiveness to China).
Haha take that ALPA…..and AA……and DL !
We can but hope.
Sometimes the karma bus goes fast, sometimes the karma bus goes slow…..
Gotta say, I like this move.
Alex is extremely qualified and will do a outstanding job. He is the type of leader who will cut through all the red tape and waste and will improve our whole operations
Genius move
Bet a bunch of special interests didn’t have this on their bingo card!
@Gary, you should add how to better deal with “service” animals on the list of FAA priorities.
wow… that would be very interesting if it turns out to be true.
Whitaker had a rough term. Boeing safety issues, all the ATC near-misses and staffing issues, the drone situation in NJ at the end of all this. He tried his best, but clearly was dealt a rough hand. But what really seems to be at issue is that his FAA fined Space X, and since Musk is our new president, Whitaker’s gotta go, obviously, out of spite alone. Will the new guy simply abolish the FAA, like every other pick for their respective agency? Who needs safety rules anyway. Let the free market decide who gets to land when. Call me skeptical. Also, for posterity, I must take the opposite side of anything @Tim Dunn says.