Delta CEO Calls on Lawmakers to Support FAA to Modernize Air Traffic Control Systems

A Delta airlines Boeing 737 MAX at Los Angeles International Airport on June 19, 2022. (Daniel Slim/Getty Images)

Delta Air Lines CEO Edward Bastian has called on lawmakers to find a way to assist the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in updating air traffic control systems.

Bastian made his comments during a fourth-quarter earnings call, during which he discussed the recent outage of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system that took place on Jan. 11.

“I think it’s very clear that there has to be a call to action amongst our political leaders—the Congress and the White House—to fund and properly provide the FAA the resources they need to do the job,” he said, according to Forbes.

“We’ve long talked about the need for modernization of our air traffic control systems. I think this is a crystal-clear example of the challenge the FAA has faced when you have aging systems that aren’t as resilient as they need to be.”

Reason for Outage

“You have tools and technologies that are somewhat outdated and staffing levels not where they need to be,” Bastian said.

According to Bastian, the FAA is doing what it can with the available resources, but he believes that Congress should offer more funding to help the FAA maintain the aviation infrastructure.

The airline CEO’s comments made headlines just after the FAA announced that they discovered the reason for the outage.

The organization offered its initial statement about investigating the outage on Jan. 11.

“The FAA is continuing a thorough review to determine the root cause of the NOTAM system outage. Our preliminary work has traced the outage to a damaged database file,” the statement reads.

“At this time, there is no evidence of a cyber attack. The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes of this issue and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again.”

FAA Prior Failure

The aviation oversight department issued an update on Jan. 19.

“A preliminary FAA review of last week’s outage of the NOTAM system determined that contract personnel unintentionally deleted files while working to correct synchronization between the live primary database and a backup database,” the department stated.

“The agency has so far found no evidence of a cyber-attack or malicious intent. The FAA continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the outage.

“The FAA made the necessary repairs to the system and has taken steps to make the NOTAM system more resilient. The agency is acting quickly to adopt any other lessons learned in our efforts to ensure the continuing robustness of the nation’s air traffic control system.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has urged that President Joe Biden’s nominee Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport, be confirmed as administrator of the FAA, despite the fact that Washington is under investigation for a corruption-related warrant, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Call For a Leader

“It’s time to clear the runway for President Biden’s choice for FAA Administrator, Phil Washington,” Schumer said during a press conference on Jan. 15.

“With recent events, including airline troubles and last week’s tech problem, this agency needs a leader confirmed by the Senate immediately.

“I intend to break this logjam, work to hold a hearing for Mr. Washington where he can detail his experience and answer questions, and then work toward a speedy Senate confirmation.”

Former FAA Administrator Steve Dickson resigned from the post at the end of March 2022, citing a desire to spend more time with his family post-pandemic.

Dickson, who was a former Air Force and Delta Air Lines pilot and had worked his way up to the airline’s senior vice president of flight operations, was appointed by then-President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate to serve as FFA administrator for five years.

Since Dickson’s exit, the agency has been directed by former FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Billy Nolen. The position was meant to be temporary—as Biden nominated Washington to lead the FAA in July 2022.

Lawmakers’ Takes

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took aim at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over the failure, saying the FAA’s problems were evidence of huge weaknesses in the system.

“The flying public deserves safety in the sky,” Cruz’s office said in response to The Epoch Times’ inquiry about the issue.

“The FAA’s inability to keep an important safety system up and running is completely unacceptable and just the latest example of dysfunction within the Department of Transportation.

“The administration needs to explain to Congress what happened, and Congress should enact reforms in this year’s FAA reauthorization legislation. This incident also highlights why the public needs a competent, proven leader with substantive aviation experience leading the FAA.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has oversight into the aviation industry, promised that her committee would look into the FAA’s failure.

“The No. 1 priority is safety. As the committee prepares for FAA reauthorization legislation, we will be looking into what caused this outage and how redundancy plays a role in preventing future outages,” she said shortly after the ground stop caused thousands of flights to be affected.

“The public needs a resilient air transportation system.”