Federal Aviation Administration head Michael Whitaker to step down

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, said Thursday he will step down Jan. 20, the day President-elect Donald Trump takes office, leaving the key agency that oversees Boeing and the U.S. airline industry again without a leader.

Whitaker was confirmed to serve a five-year term as FAA administrator in October 2023. He set production limits and heightened the agency’s scrutiny of Boeing after a near-catastrophic door-plug blowout on a Boeing 737 Max in January, when he was months into the job.

Mark House, the FAA’s assistant administrator for finance and management, will become acting deputy administrator.

The agency has seen several changes in leadership in recent years. These have come during one of the U.S. aviation industry’s most tumultuous periods, which has included two crashes of Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max planes and a subsequent grounding, the Covid-19 pandemic, and series of high-profile close calls and safety issues involving U.S. airlines and airports.

Trump’s last nominee to lead the FAA, ex-Delta captain Steve Dickson, resigned in 2022, midway through his term.

“You have seen leadership come and go — and through every transition you have kept air travel steady and safe. This transition will be no different,” Whitaker said in a statement.

A spokesman for Trump’s transition team didn’t immediately comment.

Trump has not yet nominated an FAA administrator for his second term. His eventual nominee, if confirmed, will face a host of challenges, including continued oversight of Boeing and staffing up and modernizing air traffic control. Shortages of controllers have vexed airline executives, who have blamed staffing shortages for congestion in some of the country’s busiest airports.

The FAA’s oversight of the space industry has also been the source of controversy. Companies including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been urging improvements to the FAA’s speed and efficiency in regulating rocket launches and spacecraft returning from orbit.

Musk also said in September that his company would sue the FAA for “regulatory overreach,” after the agency fined SpaceX for license violations and, according to the company, held up test flights of its Starship rocket.