In this industry, having your head in the clouds is encouraged.

This has been a year of note for airline passengers. Unpredictable weather, air traffic control issues, record numbers of air travelers, full planes and more have resulted in long delays and an increase in customer complaints to the Department of Transportation (DOT). At the same time, the U.S. has one of the safest and most competitive aviation markets in the world. Marion Blakey, the outgoing administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), oversees aviation safety and is responsible for aviation safety and the air traffic control system, among other responsibilities. It is no surprise that she is also a very frequent traveler.

How have your travels been this year? Have you been impacted by delays?

The height of irony is in this story: A few weeks ago, the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. was having a major meeting with all the stakeholders in downtown Manhattan on the delay issues at the New York airports. I decided to fly up, along with the deputy administrator, Bobby Sturgell. I look around the airplane and there were quite a few others onboard from Washington, as we are focused like a laser on that problem. Two and half hours later, after sitting on the tarmac at Reagan in the conga line waiting to get through the thunderstorm…we walked into the meeting that was scheduled from 10:00 to noon at 11:45. We all feel the frustrations.

What is the biggest challenge in the aviation industry today?

Working collaboratively with the FAA on the “NextGen” infrastructure; making the tough business decisions about how quickly we are all going to move to a system that can address the delays that I think will become chronic until we get well into the new automated, satellite-based system. The delay issue is the most challenging problem for the industry, because it impacts the reliability and predictability of air travel and engenders so much frustration.

What is holding up NextGen from happening more quickly?

It is primarily money. There is a high degree of success between government and industry about the blueprint on where we are going.

What does a day in the life of an FAA administrator look like?

There are days when the congestion of LaGuardia looks like a roadmap of my life. There are not two days that are alike…I am in the last lap of my term…You deal with a lot of operational issues. The first thing in the morning you want to know is how the system looks and how we did overnight…That’s if you don’t get any calls in the middle of the night. A big part of my day is spent ensuring we are on-target with our strategic plan—called a flight plan—and all the performance metrics we must hit. Like corporate America, I spend a lot of time keeping our projects on track. I am proud of the fact we achieved a 97 percent completion of projects on time and on budget.

KNOW YOUR ACRONYMS

FAA – The Federal Aviation Administration, headed by Marion Blakey at press time, is an organization within the DOT.

DOT – U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters leads the Department of Transportation, which includes bureaus for land, air and sea.

TSA – The Transportation Security Administration, currently headed by Kip Hawley, was originally part of the DOT, but was transferred to the Homeland
Security Administration in 2003.

AIR TRAFFIC OVERHAUL

“NextGen” is the FAA plan to modernize the national air traffic system through 2025. Specific transformational programs include use of GPS satellite signals to pinpoint aircraft location, improved data network systems and development of a single national weather service system.