[Senate Hearing 119-409]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 119-409
FAA'S PLAN FOR ATC MODERNIZATION:
EVALUATING PROGRESS, ENSURING
ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION, SPACE, AND INNOVATION
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 17, 2025
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
63-775 PDF WASHINGTON : 2026
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
TED CRUZ, Texas, Chairman
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington,
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi Ranking
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee GARY PETERS, Michigan
TODD YOUNG, Indiana TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
TED BUDD, North Carolina TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOHN CURTIS, Utah BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
BERNIE MORENO, Ohio JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
TIM SHEEHY, Montana JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia ANDY KIM, New Jersey
CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
Brad Grantz, Republican Staff Director
Nicole Christus, Republican Deputy Staff Director
Lila Harper Helms, Staff Director
Melissa Porter, Deputy Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION, SPACE, AND INNOVATION
JERRY MORAN, Kansas, Chairman TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois, Ranking
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
TED BUDD, North Carolina JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
TIM SHEEHY, Montana ANDY KIM, New Jersey
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on December 17, 2025................................ 1
Statement of Senator Moran....................................... 1
Statement of Senator Duckworth................................... 3
Statement of Senator Budd........................................ 5
Statement of Senator Cruz........................................ 13
Statement of Senator Cantwell.................................... 16
Statement of Senator Capito...................................... 19
Statement of Senator Rosen....................................... 21
Statement of Senator Kim......................................... 23
Statement of Senator Hickenlooper................................ 25
Statement of Senator Markey...................................... 27
Witnesses
Hon. Bryan Bedford, Administrator, Federal Aviation
Administration................................................. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted to Hon. Bryan Bedford by:
Hon. Jerry Moran............................................. 35
Hon. Ted Budd................................................ 36
Hon. Eric Schmitt............................................ 37
Hon. Tim Sheehy.............................................. 39
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 40
Hon. Edward Markey........................................... 46
Hon. Tammy Duckworth......................................... 46
FAA'S PLAN FOR ATC MODERNIZATION:
EVALUATING PROGRESS, ENSURING
ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS
----------
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2025
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:52 p.m., in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Cruz,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Moran [presiding], Cruz, Budd, Capito,
Duckworth, Cantwell, Markey, Rosen, Hickenlooper, and Kim.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS
Senator Moran. The Subcommittee on Aviation and Space will
come to order. I'm quite certain I'll be joined by my
colleagues. We have a vote going on, and we just finished work
on the Senate floor in regard to the ROTOR Act. But we're
anxious together, and thank you, Administrator Bedford, for
your patience in our arrival. And thank you to all in the
audience for waiting for us to be able to convene this hearing.
Administrator, thank you for joining us today to discuss
the Federal Aviation Administration's plan to modernize
America's Air Traffic Control System. I've said this so many
times, on January the 29th Flight 5342, traveling from my home
state of Kansas to Washington, DC, collided with a U.S. Army
Black Hawk helicopter seconds before a scheduled landing at
Reagan National Airport.
And as we know, it killed 67 people. And this tragic
accident has forced Congress to quit just talking about safety,
and it has forced the FAA to reckon with no longer just
sustaining our air traffic control system, but to take actual
steps toward modernizing it.
I want to acknowledge the families of the victims who are
of this tragedy who have joined us again today. We've said
thank you, and I just--there are not words that are sufficient
to make you whole, but I recognize the tireless advocacy that
has occurred day after day, week after week, month after month,
on behalf of those you love. And we want to demonstrate that
your efforts to memorialize their lives by making it safer for
others to fly occurs.
And we have a success. I sometimes smile when someone
thanks me for my efforts and think, ``Well, that's nice.'' But
could I ever be thanked for my results? And maybe this is a
circumstance in which not about thank you to me, but we can
have results.
While Congress and the public await the findings of the
National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the
mid-air collision, we're here today to continue that long
overdue work of modernizing American airspace.
Last year, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of
2024. It includes requirements to increase controller hiring,
modernized ground-based infrastructure, and provides for
improved air safety data and cybersecurity standards.
In July, this Congress provided $12.5 billion as a down
payment toward ATC modernization. These funds were authorized
for technology upgrades, new ATC facilities, runway and surface
safety systems, advanced training and workforce capabilities,
and other resources that build upon last year's
reauthorization.
Weeks after that reconciliation bill was signed into law,
the Transportation Appropriation Subcommittee, of which I sit,
unanimously approved providing the FAA $5 billion, a record
amount, to continue its efforts to modernize air traffic
control. I was with Secretary Duffy in Kansas on Monday, where
he, again, lobbied me and me to lobby my colleagues, that $12.5
billion and $5 billion is not sufficient. And we take his
efforts to heart.
Earlier this summer, Secretary of Transportation, Duffy,
announced an ambitious overhaul of America's ATC system. The
scale and scope of this comprehensive modernization is
enormous. It has and will continue to require an industry-wide
mobilization and public-private partnerships to manage and
modernize on expedited timelines.
To that end, Secretary Duffy and FAA Administrator recently
announced a prime integrator to manage the brand new air
traffic control system project, Peraton, a technology and
national security firm. Today, and the timing of this hearing,
is designed to coordinate with the announcement of that hiring,
that contract.
And today, we'll hear from Mr. Bedford about the progress
the FAA has made toward modernization, including how initial
funds authorized by this Congress in July have been used,
additional resources the FAA needs to execute its modernization
goals, and how Peraton will fit into enhancing the safety of
national airspace.
The FAA has made meaningful steps toward modernization. As
we always say, there's much to do. Mr. Bedford, this committee
has and will continue to rely upon your agency to be a
proactive and responsive partner in these efforts. And again,
thank you for your willingness to appear before us today.
Modernization is more than just the replacement of physical
or digital infrastructure. It also requires modernizing the
statutes, rules, regulations that govern airspace, and to
enable greater innovation and success. Following the deadly
mid-air collision on January 29th, I introduced legislation to
require military aircraft operating in congested airspace to
install ADS-B IN and OUT position, broadcast technologies that
are critical to keeping our skies safe.
And as I intimated when we started this hearing, just right
before we convened this subcommittee, the ROTOR Act passed to
close the gap in air safety. And I thank Senator Cruz and
Ranking Member Cantwell, I thank Senator Duckworth on the
Senate floor for the work together, and all the members of this
committee to make certain that we are making the right steps to
make air traffic safety the highest of priorities.
That legislation, as I said earlier, will amend the
National Defense Authorization Act. And I'm certain with the
people in this room and others, that we and they are committed
toward making sure that legislation passes the House of
Representatives.
So, let us let us soon begin our hearing. Mr. Bedford, I
look forward to hearing what you have to say. Before we do
that, let me recognize Senator Duckworth for her opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY DUCKWORTH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS
Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Chairman Moran, for convening
what I imagine will be the first in a series of oversight
hearings to examine the progress of the massive brand new air
traffic control system project.
I also want to acknowledge the family members of the
American Airlines Flight 5342 crash. We will continue to carry
the work that you are doing in terms of advocating forward as
well. There's no debate that our aging air traffic control
system is in desperate need of urgent repairs, and ultimately,
a comprehensive upgrade.
And Administrator Bedford, I want to be crystal clear from
the outset, I strongly support Congress providing FAA with at
least $20 billion in additional funding for ATC modernization.
Now, I understand that the valid criticism of FAA
requesting $20 billion in additional funding despite the agency
failing over the past seven months to produce a comprehensive
plan with measurable outcomes and concrete milestones that
would precisely map out the next three years.
However, ATC modernization is the Mount Everest of a
program management challenge. And in my view, if we want any
chance of success, we don't have the luxury. We simply cannot
afford to deny FAA long-term funding certainty.
Make no mistake, $12.5 billion taxpayer dollars is a
meaningful down payment. But as you know, and I know, it's not
nearly enough. So, Administrator Bedford, I urge you to be
relentless and loud in continuing to request critical ATC
modernization funds. Of course, even with food funding,
certainty, success would be far from guaranteed.
A great American once declared in this world, ``Nothing can
be certain except for death and taxes.'' But as FAA undertakes
yet another massive ATC modernization effort, we must never
forget that one could justifiably add a third item to Mr.
Franklin's list, FAA. And that would be that FAA wastes
billions of taxpayer dollars trying and failing to modernize
our air traffic control system.
From the failed advanced automated automation system
project born under President Reagan and eventually killed under
President Clinton, who couldn't make it happen either to the
incredibly disappointing next gen effort that's outlived four
Presidential terms. There's a bipartisan legacy of failure in
this space.
Of course, any ATC modernization effort under any
administration will experience schedule slippages, cost
overruns, and suffer from any number of known unknowns lurking
in the future. It would be foolish to demand perfection from
the latest ATC modernization effort. And my ask is simply that
FAA plans and prepares to mitigate the problems that will stem
from the inevitable turbulence that awaits us.
One critical mitigation measure will be making sure--would
be to make sure that the $12.5 billion down payment funds on
infrastructure is guaranteed to deliver significant short-term
and long-term value. Even if Congress fails to follow through
in delivering additional funds, use that $12.5 billion wisely.
Here's where controllers and FAA technicians could be the
most valuable resource in sharing frontline knowledge that
enables management and contract employees to separate nice-to-
have upgrades from lives-depend-on-fixing this now crisis level
problems.
FAA should also avoid reinventing the wheel. GAO previously
testified before this subcommittee that FAA conducted an
operational risk assessment of ATC Systems in 2023 with the
intention of using it to prioritize ATC investment decisions.
Unfortunately, GAO also reported, and I quote, ``FAA did not
prioritize or establish near-term plans to modernize
unsustainable and critical systems based on its operational
assessment.''
If FAA applies lessons it has already learned, this project
holds immense potential to deliver lasting value to the flying
public, to air carriers, and perhaps most vital for aviation
safety, our dedicated, yet, drastically overworked and
understaffed controller and technician workforce. And on that
last point, I strongly, strongly urge FAA to add a sixth main
category to its current ATC modernization project, personnel.
We must remember that the recent aviation safety crisis was
driven by decades of FAA pouring billions into unproven
technologies and costly service contracts as it pursued, in
vain, modernization projects with overly ambitious goals and
constantly changing requirements. These shiny objects lured FAA
into neglecting the health, capabilities and capacity of our
systems' most important assets; its people.
Under Presidents of both parties and across multiple
Congresses, ATC shed critical expertise and experience. And
between 2013 and 2023, FAA only hired two-thirds of the
controllers that FAA's own staffing model called for. So,
today, we find ourselves short 3,500 air traffic controllers,
while air travel rises to record highs, and controllers are
forced to regularly work 60-hour weeks because well over 90
percent of airports are understaffed.
Placing the lives of our constituents in the hands of civil
servants who are overworked at utterly exhausted was and
remains unfair, unacceptable, and ultimately dangerous. As I
warned over the past few years, as near misses piled up and our
safety margins got shredded, our luck would eventually run out.
The bottom line is that successfully building a brand new ATC
system will require rebuilding a depleted and demoralized
workforce.
I look forward to discussing with Administrator Bedford,
how the initial down payments will first fund critical repairs,
procure desperately needed equipment, and enhanced capabilities
and capacity of our incoming pipeline training and throughput
system to strengthen our entire controller and technician
workforce.
And with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman,
Senator Moran. Senator Duckworth, thank you very much.
Thank you for your cooperation and long-engaging involvement in
this topic.
Senator Duckworth. I enjoy working with you.
Senator Moran. Thank you. I want to also recognize the
Senator from North Carolina and see if Senator Budd has any
comments he'd like to make. North Carolina has a particular
circumstance that this tragedy means a lot to him, and to his
constituents, and folks in the state.
So, Senator Budd.
STATEMENT OF HON. TED BUDD,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Senator Budd. Thank you. It's notable a Senator from North
Carolina sitting next to a Senator for Kansas working on air
safety, passenger safety. So, we thank you, thank the families
for being here. We note the season, and we note what may be
going through your minds and your hearts. And we're grateful
for each and every one of you.
And we realize this is the tragedy's not in vain for what
we're working on today. We look at the ROTOR Act, which the
Chairman was instrumental in passing, the Chairman of the full
committee, and chairman of this subcommittee. And we're
grateful for your involvement and your advocacy.
And we remember you, 5342, from Wichita with a Charlotte-
based flight crew was notable. But Administrator, we're
grateful for your role and what you're doing. We think you're
making great strides. We know you're going to give us an update
today. Look forward to learning more about that and reading the
remarks afterwards. And we appreciate you spending time with us
today.
Chairman, I yield back.
Senator Moran. Senator Budd, thank you for your continued
interest, engagement, and support for all these efforts.
I want to introduce our witness today. We're joined by the
Honorable Bryan Bedford, Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration. He was nominated by President Trump and
confirmed by the Senate this past July. In his role as
Administrator, Mr. Bedford oversees 40,000 Federal employees.
Since his confirmation, he's directed an implementation of
President Trump's brand new air traffic control system. In
addition to continuing to ensure the safe operation of the
National Airspace System after the DCA mid-air collision in
January, he joins this subcommittee for his first appearance as
Administrator.
Congratulations on your confirmation. Thank you for showing
up for work and doing your job.
Mr. Bedford. Thank you.
Senator Moran. I now recognize Mr. Bedford to deliver his
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. BRYAN BEDFORD, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL
AVIATION ADMINISTRATION,
Mr. Bedford. Well, good afternoon to the Committee. Thank
you, Chairman Moran, and Ranking Member Duckworth. It really is
a privilege to be here and an honor to appear before this
subcommittee today as the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration. And I sincerely welcome the opportunity to
provide an update for you on FAA's work to strengthen aviation
safety, modernize air traffic control, and to prepare for the
future.
I too want to begin by acknowledging the tragic accident
involving PSA Flight 5342 at Reagan National. A sobering
reminder of why the FAA exists, and why I answered President
Trump's and Secretary Duffy's call to accept this position.
Our mission is simple, but critical; protect pilots, flight
attendants, and the traveling public by objectively analyzing
data to identify risks and urgently acting on the data to
mitigate those risks.
Immediately after the accident, the FAA did take decisive
action, permanently restricting non-essential helicopter
operations in the Capitol region, permanently closing certain
helicopter routes, eliminating visual separation approaches,
and requiring aircraft to broadcast ADS-B OUT with limited
exceptions.
We also reviewed hotspots nationwide, where we saw mixed
traffic environments create elevated risk, identified those
concerns, and took corrective action. We continued to support
the National Transportation Safety Board's investigations,
including the recent UPS MD-11 accident. These investigations
reinforce the importance of constant vigilance and a
willingness to reexamine our processes, our assumptions, and
our oversight.
The FAA remains closely engaged in overseeing how Boeing
manages the design, manufacturing, and quality across its
programs, including the production system itself. I have
confidence in our FAA workforce performing this critical
oversight, many of whom continued to carry out their work
during the recent government shutdown.
The shutdown, of course, placed extraordinary strain on the
FAA and its people, air traffic controllers, safety inspectors,
engineers, technicians, and many others who continued to report
to work without pay during the 43-day lapse in appropriations.
I sincerely appreciate their professionalism and dedication to
our safety mission.
But let me be clear. Well, before the shutdown, the FAA was
struggling with a shortage of qualified controllers. The
shutdown exacerbated those challenges. Staffing triggers
reached unprecedented levels rising from mere single digits
prior to the lapse to more than 80 in a single day.
Applying the hard lessons we've learned from the DCA
accident, the FAA safety team identified controller workload
and system demand as emerging risk factors. And as the response
to this increased risk, we temporarily reduced operations at 40
high traffic airports.
The connection between controller workload, system demand,
and operational risk was unmistakable, and it reinforced the
need for the FAA to act decisively when the data demanded it
and underscored the importance of stable controller funding.
Hiring and retaining a strong workforce remains essential
to aviation safety. Under Secretary Duffy's leadership, the FAA
met its Fiscal Year 2025 hiring goal, adding more than 2,000
new controller trainees. We remain on track to hire 89
controllers through 2028. We expanded the enhanced air traffic
collegiate training initiative to nine institutions, and we
continually hiring inspectors and engineers on the spot
offering relocation incentives to place personnel in critical
locations.
As we grow the workforce, the FAA must also evolve. The
aviation ecosystem is changing rapidly, and the agency must
keep pace with innovation while maintaining the highest levels
of safety. President Trump's executive orders reinforced the
need for modernization, efficiency, and innovation across the
FAA.
Congress provided a strong foundation through the FAA
Reauthorization Act of 2024. The Act directs the FAA to become
more agile, more efficient, and I'm pleased to share
implementation is well underway. The FAA is also moving toward
an agency-wide safety management system to ensure lessons
learned from accidents, incidents, near misses, and other
factors are identified and acted upon consistently across the
agency landscape.
The National Airspace System must be renewed. President
Trump has articulated a bold vision for a brand new air traffic
control system within the next three years, and I'm pleased to
report that that critical work is well underway. We recently
selected an integrator, and have compressed a radar and telecom
modernization program from 20 years into three years.
We've already transitioned more than one-third of the old
copper infrastructure to fiber, and we're deploying our first
digital radios and voice switches. The One Big Beautiful Bill
provided a historic $12.5 billion down payment to support this
critical effort.
The DCA tragedy and the government shutdown were defining
moments for the FAA this year. They exposed vulnerabilities,
but they also drove action, and they sharpened our focus.
Today, the FAA is a more proactive and more determined agency
focused on fulfilling and upholding its critical safety
mission.
We owe the American people a system that is safe, modern,
resilient, and prepared for the future. We are on the course,
and we will continue to support this committee, and we
appreciate your support in achieving these objectives.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bedford follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Bryan Bedford, Administrator,
Federal Aviation Administration
Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Duckworth, and Members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
This is my first appearance before you as Administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration, and I am grateful for the opportunity to
discuss the FAA's work to strengthen aviation safety, modernize our air
traffic control system, and prepare the FAA for the challenges and
opportunities ahead. It is a tremendous honor to serve in this role,
and I remain committed to fulfilling its responsibilities to the best
of my ability.
I want to start by acknowledging the tragic accident involving
Flight 5342 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) earlier
this year. It remains at the forefront of my mind in the work that I
do. It is a sobering reminder of why the FAA exists and was ultimately
the reason why I accepted the call from President Trump and Secretary
Duffy to take this job. Our mission is to ensure safety for pilots,
flight attendants, crew and the traveling public, and we must always
confront risks with urgency, transparency, and action. But to do that,
we need to vigilantly and diligently identify potential risks in our
National Airspace System.
As you know, immediately after the accident, the FAA changed
operations in the National Capital Region--permanently restricting non-
essential helicopter operations, closing certain helicopter routes,
eliminating visual separation approaches, and requiring aircraft to
broadcast ADS-B Out signals, with very limited exceptions. We also
initiated our review of airport ``hot spots'' across the country where
mixed traffic environments may create elevated risk. These assessments
revealed operational patterns in several locations that needed
attention, and we are diligently working to address them.
We continue to work closely with the National Transportation Safety
Board on its ongoing investigations, including its investigation of the
recent accident involving UPS Flight 2976. These tragedies underscore
that safety requires constant vigilance and a willingness to examine
our processes, assumptions, and historic certification structures. I
appreciate this Committee's work to support us in addressing these
matters.
At the same time, we continue to maintain our oversight of
aerospace manufacturers, including Boeing, and how the company manages
design, manufacturing, and quality across its programs. We also
continue to keep a close watch on the production system itself. As a
process-driven leader, I know that disciplined, well-designed processes
consistently result in strong and predictable outcomes. I have
confidence in our oversight of Boeing processes and in the FAA team
leading this important work.
The recent shutdown demonstrated clearly how essential the FAA's
safety mission is to the country. Aviation drives over five percent of
our national economy, supports millions of jobs, and moves people and
goods that keep communities and industries connected and functioning.
The safe and efficient operation of the National Airspace System relies
on a well-staffed, well-trained FAA workforce.
Our employees--air traffic controllers, safety inspectors,
engineers, technicians, and many others--showed extraordinary
dedication during the 43-day lapse in appropriations. Many worked
without pay. Yet even under these circumstances, many continued to
uphold the highest standards of professionalism and showed up to work.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that we entered the
funding lapse already below the staffing levels needed for the reliable
operation of our air traffic control facilities, intensifying the
government shutdown's impact. And as the shutdown progressed, our
operational monitoring tools signaled growing strain.
The FAA observes staffing triggers on a near daily basis throughout
the year, responding with established procedures, such as reducing
traffic when necessary, increasing miles-in-trail separation standards,
implementing ground delay programs, or executing ground stops, as
appropriate. During the shutdown, however, staffing triggers at key
facilities spiked to unprecedented levels--jumping from single digits
to a peak of over 80 in a single day on November 8. Those metrics are
indicators of controller workload and system stress. Reflecting on
lessons learned from the DCA accident we were proactive--closely
monitoring trends, anticipating stress points, and preparing mitigation
measures before conditions became acute. Accordingly, we temporarily
reduced flight operations at 40 major airports.
As the situation unfolded, we were able to actively investigate
emerging constraints, assess risks in near real time, and implement
measures in an orderly manner to relieve some of the pressure on our
controllers and maintain safe operations. The direct correlation
between controller strain, system capacity, and risk reinforced that
the FAA must act urgently and decisively when the data calls for it. It
also underscored the importance of maintaining consistent, long-term
funding for the agency.
Strengthening the workforce remains central to our path forward.
Under Secretary Duffy's leadership, the FAA supercharged air traffic
controller hiring. We met our FY25 hiring goal with 2,026 new
controllers, and we are on track to hire at least 8,900 controllers
through 2028. We have increased training throughput by expanding the
Enhanced Air Traffic -Collegiate Training Initiative program to 9
additional institutions. And on the safety oversight side, we have
expanded hiring for inspectors and engineers using on-the-spot hiring
authority, relocation incentives, and strategic placement in critical
locations. Across all of these efforts, our focus remains on
attracting, developing, and retaining the best and brightest talent.
As we look ahead, it is clear that the FAA must continue to
innovate and evolve. The aviation ecosystem is changing rapidly--
unmanned aircraft, advanced air mobility, more commercial space
launches, and renewed interest in supersonic flight all demand a
regulatory framework that can keep pace with innovation while
maintaining the highest safety standards. President Trump's recent
executive orders reinforce the need for continued modernization and
innovation across the agency.
Congress provided a strong foundation for this work through the FAA
Reauthorization Act of 2024, and we remain committed to its
implementation. The Act directs us to improve regulatory agility,
integrate new entrants more efficiently, and strengthen internal
coordination. Our implementation of these reforms is informed, in part,
by lessons learned from the DCA accident and the need for clearer
accountability and streamlined processes.
In that same spirit, the FAA is implementing a single, agency-wide
Safety Management System (SMS). This unified approach will help the FAA
detect, analyze, and mitigate risk more consistently and ensure that
lessons from accidents, incidents, and near misses are acted upon
quickly and across the agency.
The National Airspace System itself must also be renewed. The
existing systems--radar, communications networks, software systems--are
decades old. President Trump presented a bold vision for a brand-new
air traffic control system within the next three years and our work to
do that is already underway. Our controllers deserve a system they can
rely on and that matches the complexity of today's airspace and the
future of the National Airspace System.
We have selected an Integrator who will oversee this
transformational work. At the same time, we are making advancements in
our modernization efforts. We have taken the FAA's 15-year radar
modernization roadmap and compressed it into a three-year timeline,
establishing an accelerated implementation cadence that is already in
motion. We have transitioned over one-third of our copper wire to
fiber, and have begun modernizing radios, upgrading voice switches, and
improving digital communications, among other critical improvements.
These improvements will enable the Integrator to hit the ground running
to create a more reliable, resilient infrastructure and serve as the
foundation for the future National Airspace System.
The One Big Beautiful Bill provides a historic $12.5 billion down
payment to support this modernization effort. That funding will help us
move faster and smarter, while also strengthening core infrastructure,
and deliver on President Trump's bold vision for the future of American
aviation. But the work ahead remains significant. Success will require
continued collaboration--across the FAA, with our aviation partners,
and with Congress. With this accelerated modernization work already
underway, that collaboration becomes even more essential.
The DCA accident was a defining moment for the FAA and for the
country. It exposed gaps, but it also galvanized action. The recent
shutdown further reminded us of the importance of our aviation
ecosystem. And together, these events have shaped an agency now more
focused, more proactive, and more determined than ever to fulfill its
mission.
We owe the American people a system that is safe, modern,
resilient, and built for the future. That is the course we are on, and
with the support of this Committee, we will deliver it.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to
your questions.
Senator Moran. Mr. Bedford, thank you, again. I'm anxious,
so I want to hear if you could in some level of detail, tell me
how the $12.5 billion that was authorized by Congress to
modernize air traffic control system, how has it been spent to
date, and what's the prospect for the remaining funds?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question, Chairman
Moran. If I can just indulge for a second. You know, when I
onboarded on July 10, I was presented with the procurement
document to go buy this brand new air traffic control system.
We put it in the trash can the same day.
We started on a process of thinking slow and then acting
fast. And that think slow process actually gave us opportunity
to define the end state of the National Airspace System for the
future that we wanted, and then work our way back for the
critical workflows that we would need to accomplish.
Having done that, I can tell you we have increased the
cadence on our conversion of fiber, or copper to fiber. The FAA
had a detailed plan in 2018 to a 20-year plan in 2018 to
modernize telco. Through the first part of this year, we had
made 900 of those telco transitions.
In the last seven months, we've moved more than 950
conversions. Over a third of the copper has been removed and
converted to fiber, and we are well underway completing this
program by third quarter of 2027. We are down to our final
three down selects for radar acquisition, and I believe we will
appropriate that money or commit that money by the end of the
year.
By the end of the year, I expect we'll have $6 billion to
$6.5 billion of the $12.5 Billion actually earmarked and
contractually under obligation for telco modernization,
surveillance modernization, and digitizing voice
communications.
Senator Moran. Would you say that last sentence one more
time, by a certain date? I want to make sure I heard it
correctly.
Mr. Bedford. By the end of the year, we will have $6
billion to $6.5 billion of the One Big Beautiful Bill committed
to modernization.
Senator Moran. Thank you. Forgive my skepticism, not about
what you said, or about you, or the FAA in particular, but we
all know government projects don't seem to go as planned, and
it's difficult to keep a schedule that advances the cause in a
time-frame as is necessary. What are you doing things
differently at the FAA with this project than just what we
might call some normal government situation?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you. Yes, sir. And I would like to
pick up on our Ranking Member Duckworth's opening comments.
You're absolutely right. We need to have a plan. We need to
have a strategy. We need to have articulated work streams,
measurable deliverables.
The good news is we can brief you on that. We have all of
that. We have an articulate strategy. We have our mission
objectives identified. We have 14 critical needs work packages
ready to go, ready to deploy now that we have the integrator
identified.
So, I can tell you I've read the GAO studies, the OIG
studies, the OMB studies. I'm right there with you. We cannot
do business as usual and hope to have a different result. So,
we are taking a very different track with modernization.
Senator Moran. Thank you. Let me follow up with the
appropriations dollars, that $5 billion that I indicated in my
opening statement. The Congress passed in our appropriation
process last year in the THUD bill, in Fiscal Year 2026
appropriations providing FAA $5 billion for modernizing
facilities and equipment.
How will those funds be used in connection with the
deployment of the reconciliation dollars? How do these two
things go together?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. And again, I
believe as you read many of these audit reports, you would
learn the same thing that I have; which is 80 percent of our
infrastructure is considered obsolete and/or unsustainable.
Of course, the vast majority of that $5 billion doesn't
actually go to build new brick and mortar. 85 to 90 percent of
those funds actually go to sustaining, repairing, repainting,
replacing elevators and HVAC systems and plumbing and roofs. I
mean frankly, we're putting lipstick on a pig.
So, you may think you're buying brand new infrastructure
with the $5 billion, but what you're buying is sustainment of
the old system.
Senator Moran. And let me say that, well, I understand that
it's a problem. We need more money than the reconciliation
dollars. We also have to patch what we have to keep us going
until we get that accomplishment.
Mr. Bedford. Absolutely.
Senator Moran. And I would indicate that I hope today is
another important day in this process of--because the
appropriations, it's expected for us to be able to take up the
THUD appropriation bill today or tomorrow and move it forward.
So, you would miss out on that $5 billion if we only do a
Continuing Resolution and fail to do our appropriation bills.
So, I don't need to tell my colleagues this, but if there's
just another important opportunity for people to make certain
that Congress does its job and appropriates the money, and not
walk away from the process, or that $5 billion is absent.
Mr. Bedford. Sir, I appreciate the opportunity to provide
that clarity because I think it also helps explain why there's
such a disconnect between believing that the FAA doesn't do a
very good job of these programs.
I don't think we've been very transparent in telling you
where the money is going. So, you may be thinking you're
investing in new brick and mortar, and unfortunately, you're
investing in sustainment. But the sustainment dollars are
critical to keeping the system flying today.
Senator Moran. That's why I asked the question. Senator
Duckworth.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Chairman. So, picking up on
the time question. I have concerns, Mr. Administrator, on a
focus on meeting a three-year timeline.
I am all for getting this done as quickly as possible. We
need it. But this 3-year timeline strikes me as somewhat
arbitrary and unrealistic. And I'm worried that it's setting up
any prime integrator to fail. I just want to make sure that
we're addressing issues of redundancy, resiliency, that we're
not creating gaps.
So, even if the project technically meets the on-time
delivery under the threat of non-payment without stringent
oversight, such an environment is at high risk for less
stringent quality control malfunctioning systems and inadequate
time to train controllers on those new systems.
So, I just want to make sure, yes, it's great that you're
putting this timeline in place, but you're going to have to do
the significant oversight to make sure that we're not cutting
corners.
And Mr. Bedford with an accelerated timeline, coupled with
the firings and vacancies across numerous critical offices in
the FAA, how will you ensure the current ATC modernization
project preserves redundancy, resiliency, and careful
transitions to avoid disruptive gaps in capabilities that will
emerge when functional systems are sunset and replacement is
not yet operational?
How are you going to make that transition go as smoothly as
possible under this very ambitious timeline that you've put
forward?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for your question Ranking
Member Duckworth. I'll tell you it's something that we've spent
an enormous amount of time as we selected between two potential
integrator partners.
I mean, this process went through months of evaluation,
months of study game theorizing out the entire deployment
scenario. So, none of the needs package that have been
identified, the critical work streams, and the timeline, all of
that has been vetted through our competitive process. So, I
believe everyone involved right now believes the target, while
it may seem aspirational, it's absolutely achievable.
You correctly point out that we need to do that at the same
time without sacrificing the current operational reliability of
the National Airspace System. I think it would be fair for me
to categorize that we will not increase the elevation of risk
in terms of reliability, but we're still relying on an
inefficient National Airspace System design.
And by that, I mean where we house the compute power, the
data power, the operating system capacity is resident in each
of our 350 facilities. So, phase 1 of the $12.5 billion fixes a
lot of those resiliency and redundancy issues, but it doesn't
actually get us to the point where we can complete
modernization.
So, just to be clear, this next set of funding that we're
looking for, that will give us the dollars to actually go
completely from analog to digital infrastructure and elevate
that compute power out of the facility into the cloud.
And that's another reason why we selected Peraton. They've
done this for the Department of War. They've accomplished this
for NASA. They've got a great roadmap for us to follow for FAA.
Senator Duckworth. So, FAA has described the latest ATC
modernization project as organized around five main categories:
communications, civilians, automation facilities, and Alaska.
As I stated earlier, I believe FAA should add additional
category; personnel.
Would you agree that when it comes to restoring effective
layers and margins of safety, one of the most urgent challenges
we face is fixing the sheer shortage of controllers,
technicians, and other important safety personnel?
Mr. Bedford. Boy, I would love to spend a full hour talking
about that with you. I can tell you, and you've seen, we
announced on Monday our Flight Plan 2026. The Flight Plan 2026
goes into the field that has three primary pillars.
The first pillar is people: focus on hiring the best
people, giving them the best training and the best tools to
achieve the best results. And we have now identified the
critical steps with which we will hold ourselves accountable to
delivering on our people. And I would say also starting to
restore culture of trust at the FAA.
The second pillar, of course, is safety. And I would love
to spend a lot of time today talking to you about how we're
going to think rethink about safety, and redesigning SMS and
risk management at the FAA. And then the final piece is
modernization. But they build on each other. We have to start,
people is the foundation of the NAS. People are the foundation
of the National Airspace System, and then we're buttressed by
the two pillars of safety and our modernization efforts.
Senator Duckworth. I think we also need to supercharge the
training of new air traffic controllers, and would the FAA
consider using a small portion of the ATC modernization funds
to purchase and deploy equipment so that we can strengthen the
existing nine enhanced collegiate training initiative schools,
and more importantly, to supercharge efforts to persuade far
more academic institutions to sign up to become E-CTI schools?
I think that that is something that needs to happen because
I sort of think of it like the ROTC program where you don't
have to go to West Point to become an Army officer. You can go
to any ROTC program across the country. You still have to go to
your officer's basic course. You still have to go to Oklahoma
and finish your 16-week course. But at least we're pumping more
people into the system.
And I do think that it would be worth it for FAA to
consider increasing the number of schools and using some of
those funds to purchase the equipment so that more schools,
whether it's Kansas, or Texas, or New Jersey, or Washington
State, can graduate more folks who can then become air traffic
controllers.
Mr. Bedford. So, I applaud the suggestion. I think we have
an opportunity to really lean much more heavily into our
community college infrastructure across the country. Our FAA
jobs are all across the nation, and if we can get training
closer to where the students who are the future of the FAA, I
think that'll be helpful to us.
Of course, Oklahoma City, that'll be the graduate school,
if you will.
Senator Duckworth. Yes.
Mr. Bedford. We're always going to have it. We're blessed
to have Oklahoma City, but we can absolutely do more on
workforce development. And honestly, to have any hope of
overcoming our controller shortages, we need an all-of-the-
above strategy.
Senator Duckworth. I do think you should seriously consider
taking some of the initial down payment to establish additional
FAA academies. And we should have more than just the one, and
you know, you should look at--I'm confident the Chairman would
love to host a second academy in Kansas, and also the Chairman
of the main committee in Texas, of course we'd love one in
Illinois as well.
But I think that in places where you actually have
established air traffic controller training and aviation
schools, additional academies are desperately needed at this
time. So, please consider that.
Mr. Bedford. I will. Thank you.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you.
Senator Moran. We've been joined not only by the Ranking
Member Senator Cantwell, but now by the Full Committee
Chairman, Senator Cruz, both instrumental in the efforts on the
Senate floor today. I'd recognized the Senator from Texas for
his opening comments and questioning. And Senator Cruz, if you
know how to conduct a hearing, I'll go vote while you do so.
STATEMENT OF HON. TED CRUZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS
The Chairman [presiding]. Very good.
Senator Moran. Thank you.
The Chairman. Administrator, welcome. In the days following
the January mid-air collision at DCA, Secretary Duffy took bold
steps to ensure safety of the airspace. He closed helicopter
Route 4, and revised existing memorandums of agreement with
DOD, DOJ, and Coast Guard to require ADS-B OUT usage.
I commend the administration for immediately taking
aviation safety seriously, and taking these key steps to ensure
that the DC airspace is safe. Just moments ago, the Senate
passed the ROTOR Act, bipartisan legislation unanimously
supported by this committee, and now unanimously passed by the
full Senate.
The ROTOR Act will require all aircraft, military and
civilian, to receive ADS-B IN signals something the NTSB has
recommended for decades. And the FAA, as recently as 2023 under
President Biden, has declined to recommend.
In your judgment, how would universal ADS-B IN adoption
enhance safety?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I hesitate to comment on pending
legislation in my current role, but I will tell you as an
airline pilot, as a general aviation pilot, as a former CEO of
a commercial airline, any additional awareness, situational
awareness on the cockpit is a welcome initiative.
And as we've discussed many times with you when you
introduced the ROTOR Act on the dais along with many family
members and the Secretary, and we were supportive then, we
continue to be supportive now with the modifications that
you've introduced into the legislation, at least as I
understand it.
So, I hope we have an outcome where the general aviation
community, which will continue to support in our efforts for
confidentiality and for portability of systems. I hope we can
find broad support for this.
The Chairman. Terrific. I very much appreciate that. There
are's effectively two options with ADS-B IN onboard avionics;
so that alerts and information is directly available to the
pilot and workarounds like iPad apps so you can see in here
that probably works well for a GA pilot, general aviation
pilot, but not so well for most commercial, or military
aircraft.
Can you talk about how you might view approval of these
workarounds for certain kinds of aircraft?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question, Mr.
Chairman. I think there's a third element that we need to also
consider, and that is the rapid adoption of high broadband
satellite-based communications between aircraft and the ground.
And so, what we have now is an opportunity to integrate the
three elements; the plane with an iPad solution with high-speed
broadband connectivity, the plane in real time, that will allow
us to find ADS-B IN like solutions that will give us exactly
the same type of safety results that you're trying to achieve
here today.
The Chairman. So, let's shift to air traffic control. So,
much of air traffic control system is predicated on the
limitations of technology from a particular era. Two good
examples. The FAA has struggled to close an understaffed TRACON
on Long Island that covers the approach for New York City
airports.
It didn't have to be on Long Island. In fact, the FAA
wanted to move it to Philadelphia, but ran into political
opposition for years. There are more than 20 air route traffic
control centers, ARTCC. They cover traffic at really high
altitudes. ARTCC locations, and coverage is based on radar from
the 1960s. It strikes me that this entire operation is more
than a little outdated.
How can the FAA best go about facility modernization or
consolidation given constant political interference with your
decisions?
Mr. Bedford. Well, again, thank you for the question. It's
delicate, right? The One Big Beautiful Bill gave us $3 billion
to examine and look at consolidation of facilities, both TRACON
and en route centers. And I'm confident we'll be able to begin
to deploy that investment next year, and start to articulate a
more refined strategy.
But of course, these aren't just facilities. They're people
involved here. And we want to be considerate of the people
factor as well. We want to retain our critical safety
professional workforce with our controllers, our technicians,
and our inspectors.
But I would agree that we should not carry the old
architecture into the future. We do not need to think about the
world between TRACONs and en route centers. We need to think of
what it is. It's surveillance centers and whether they're doing
high, low, or all the above. It represents an opportunity to
drive greater efficiency, frankly, and greater safety in terms
of how we move aircraft in space more efficiently, more
strategically.
The Chairman. And how would you characterize the progress
that FAA has made this year with air traffic control
modernization, and where do you expect to go next year?
Mr. Bedford. Well, again, thank you for the question, and I
think this hopefully won't frustrate you too much. We started
with a highly prescriptive 680-page document that was placed in
front of me on July 10 when I onboarded.
So, they were ready to actually get going in consultation
with the Secretary. We both agreed that we should scrap that
plan because it represented more of the same. We were going to
run the exact same FAA playbook that we'd ran for the last 20
years.
So, we decided to actually invoke a think slow, act fast
mentality. We hired outside legal counsel. We got help to
actually create a strategy of what the end state of the NAS
should look like, bring back the work packages to the here and
now as part of our onboard even integrator.
So, I think we have an excellent articulable strategy
defined work packages in a timeline now where we'll deliver on
the promise of modernization. And we'll do it by the end of
2028.
In terms of where we're at today, we didn't stop, we didn't
slow down. We took what was an existing 20-year FAA telecom
modernization strategy that would complete in 2038, and we
compressed that into three--two and a half years, to be honest.
And to tell you whether that's successful or not, I'll tell
you, prior to onboarding, we had converted a little over 900
facilities from copper to fiber. And in the last six months,
we've converted 950 facilities from copper to fiber. So, we
absolutely can move quicker, much quicker, and we can get the
telecom piece done in two and a half years.
The Chairman. Thank you. I now recognize Ranking Member
Cantwell, and actually would ask, would you mind presiding
while I run and make the second vote?
STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON
Senator Cantwell [presiding]. Thank you. Yes, sir. Mr.
Bedford, the Chairman asked or the Full Committee asked you
about the legislation we just passed on the Senate floor, and
you said you didn't want to comment on it. Aren't you in
support of the road rack that the Senate just passed?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I'm new to the political realm Ranking
Member Cantwell, and I was advised that as legislation is
pending, I shouldn't opine for the administration on whether
the administration is in favor of or not.
What I can tell you is both as a pilot and former airline
executive, I do support, and I applaud the measures of the
ROTOR Act. I was with you or with Chairman Cruz on the dais
when he announced the ROTOR Act. I think the Secretary both
have pledged our support with modifications that represent our
ability to enhance our general aviation compliance, making sure
that we're giving them the right tools and processes that we
can get ADS-B IN like solutions.
Senator Cantwell. I'm just trying to--if you stood next to
Chairman Cruz and said you supported the bill, I just am a
little confused about what you're saying now because we did
something great today, took a big step. But at the same time,
the same people who tried to stick this language into the NDAA,
I'm sure will try to thwart these efforts in the House of
Representatives.
So, what I want to know is if the FAA Administrator fully
behind the efforts to get this over the goal line and onto the
President's desk?
Mr. Bedford. Well, again, I was with the chairman when he
announced the ROTOR Act and talked about my----
Senator Cantwell. There, as I just said, do you support
requiring general aviation to be equipped with the ADS-B IN to
improve situational awareness?
Mr. Bedford. So, again, I believe as a pilot, greater
situational--the cockpit is a good thing for all of us. Many
pilots do it voluntarily. There are concerns, however, on
confidentiality, how we treat the information, and on the
affordability of it. There are solutions today I'm sure are
aware where we can provide ADS-B IN like solutions.
And as a clarification, just so we're clear, when we talk
about FAA ADS-B IN, that has a very clear definition in the
regulation, requiring it to be integrated into the flight deck.
That's a very difficult concept for adoption.
Senator Cantwell. I'm pretty sure you showed me something
different in our office about how general aviation could use a
different application.
Mr. Bedford. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Senator Cantwell. So, the point is that we do not want
general aviation gutting the ROTOR Act or stopping the ROTOR
Act. And we have lots of different problems to solve, and we
definitely want the FAA and the administration's help on
solving them.
So, I want to get to this ethics question because I'm
really bothered by the fact that you've missed the ethics
deadline to divest from the company that we were also concerned
about. Why were we concerned about it? Because Republic had
been a key player in trying to get different rules before the
FAA. And so, you still have not divested from that. So, did you
divest any of your shares in Republic before December 1?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I appreciate the opportunity to clarify
the record. So, under my ethics agreement, I had anticipated
being able to complete the merger of Republic and Mesa
Airlines, and dispose of the shares on the open market.
Senator Cantwell. Certainly, this isn't about. You didn't
take the job to make more money and decide when you had to
divest. We set these rules up for everybody in the government.
You're a very unique individual who hasn't complied. We didn't
dig this up. The ethics people came to us and said he didn't
comply. So, if you're saying you're not complying because you
want to make more money, it's like----
Mr. Bedford. No, actually, I think I have complied. I
followed the rules. I told the career ethics officers what was
going on. They told me I could apply for an extension. I
applied for an extension. I heard nothing back from the career
ethics officers to the contrary. I acted upon that in good
faith. So, yes, my intention was to continue to comply based on
the advice I was getting from the career ethics officers.
Senator Cantwell. I think they said that OGE denied this
exemption because being busy at work was not a valid reason.
Mr. Bedford. Well, I think there was more to it than that.
But the reality is, I relied on the career ethics advice that I
was saying.
Senator Cantwell. They're saying they denied the request.
Mr. Bedford. I applied for an extension. I was told that
the agreement was tolled until we heard back from the----
Senator Cantwell. Tolled? What was the word you said?
Mr. Bedford. Tolled, T-O-L-L-E-D, stayed, extended that I
was in compliance. My understanding, I was in compliance
throughout. But where we're at today, just to make sure we
follow to its conclusion, the merger has been completed, the
shares have been terminated. We're waiting for the new shares
to be reissued, at which point they will be divested as soon as
reasonably practical.
Senator Cantwell. I definitely don't think this is what OGE
recommended. So, it's actually kind of amazing.
I do want to ask you about the Air Traffic Controller
System and the fact that in the case of the DCA accident, we've
been hearing from air traffic controllers who were ringing the
alarm bell. They seem to be saying that we are hearing alarms
and this needs to be fixed. But that didn't seem to be
resonating with people who recognized this before the DCA
crash.
So, what are you going to do to fix this kind of input from
the air traffic controllers into the system?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. I can tell
you, even though I've only been on board with the FAA a little
over 5 months, the agency took the accident extremely hard.
That was a very difficult situation for the FAA to digest the
loss of a commercial aircraft, loss of 67 lives.
Having been on board now, I spent my first 10 days going
out across the agency, from literally coast to coast up to
Quinhagak, Alaska, visiting all of our facilities, from en
route centers, to TRACON, to towers. I can tell you that in the
agency itself, it needs to reform. We need to change how we
think about managing safety at the FAA.
We've proposed a creation of an integrated safety office
that will take all of this disparate data systems and safety
folks from across the mosaic of the aviation ecosystem, and
consolidate them into one office that will have full
responsibility for analyzing the data and making safety
recommendations.
Senator Cantwell. So, you're going to say now somebody is
going to listen to air traffic controllers on a regular basis,
they'll have an input into a specific office, that information
will be digested and presented both up and down the chain?
Mr. Bedford. I'm suggesting that the way the FAA has been
designed is very siloed, and each one of those silos contains
some small perspective on aviation safety that doesn't talk
well across the different lines of business.
So, by deconstructing safety out of the silos and putting
it into a consolidated office tasks specifically with looking
at the entire aviation ecosystem, from certification to flight
standards, to enforcement, to rulemaking to obviously the ATO,
all of those things will now be integrated into one office.
Senator Cantwell. OK. But I'm asking something specific,
because we learned this very well from the MAX situation; that
you have to have line employees being able to communicate up
and that information being digested by lots of managers above
them, as opposed to having that shut down.
And what we wanted to make sure happened in the Boeing case
is that that information wasn't precluded from being shared
with the FAA. And the reason is because the FAA's job was
oversight implementation of rules and understanding problems
before they became bigger problems.
And I just want to mention, I mean, you said it was hard on
the FAA. It's very hard on these families. They're here, the
Lilley family's here, Amy Hunter's here, Laura Obert is here.
It's hard on them. And what we have to do is get this right.
So, this is just a really basic question. Do you believe
that the employees should be able to report into a system
without intimidation by their manager, and that that
information be digested, like we heard 1,500 alarm bells go off
for a long period of time about the route?
Mr. Bedford. Well, every week when I address the team, I
make sure that they know that they can reach me. They've got my
e-mails. They know how to get a hold of me. So, yes, to answer
your question, of course, frontline employees should absolutely
be able to.
Senator Cantwell. OK. Well, usually, you name that program,
and then they're inputted, and then that is digested somewhere.
And so, that's the question I'm asking.
Mr. Bedford. So, if somebody sees something, they should
say something.
Senator Cantwell. In a formalized system. We have all these
reports that we get that basically is an IG who comes in later
that says that information didn't get read or shared. And then
what happens, believe it or not, the public should know this
before the IG even gets to publish their report of their
findings of bad problems, then they send it to you, the agency,
who then cleans it up before then it gets published so that the
day the report gets published from the IG about all the
problems.
Basically, the agency says, ``Oh, we already fixed all
that,'' and then it leaves us, the policymakers here, trying to
figure out whether it really did get fixed or didn't get fixed.
So, anyway, I do appreciate that you are at least willing to
say that SMS needs to be systemwide for the whole agency. I do
appreciate that. Thank you.
I think Senator Capito, I don't know if you're chairing or
I'm yielding to you. I don't know what I'm doing.
STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Capito. I do know what I'm doing.
Senator Cantwell. Thank you. Senator Capito, I'm sure
you're taking the gavel.
Senator Capito [presiding]. I am. Thank you, Mr.
Administrator, for being here and for your service, too. You
know, we're only as strong as our weakest link, as we know. And
there's a lot of emphasis as there should be on the larger
airports. And it won't surprise you to know that I'm going to
focus on the smaller airports of which, of course, my state is
all small airports.
And to modernize the Air Traffic Control System, we've
recognized that there's need for the critical system updates.
So, in the smaller regional airports in a state like ours, how
are you ensuring that regional airports are getting the
necessary attention in the modernization efforts?
And because you talked about antiquated systems, and in
here you said some of the radar systems are decades old. I
mean, in certain terrains, like where I live, that can be very
dangerous. So, what can you tell rural America in terms of your
airport's going to be as safe and as modernized as Dulles, or
LaGuardia, or something?
Mr. Bedford. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for the question.
Of course, we need to elevate modernization across the board,
not just big airports versus small airports. In fact, when we
take out our technology for testing, which we're doing as we
speak; brand new digital radios, brand new digital voice
switches, we actually go to our smaller airports where we have
better controls, and frankly, less stress.
So, we actually start modernization from the small and work
our way to the top. So, I can assure you that our regional
airports are going to be well maintained as we go through the
modernization.
Senator Capito. Well, I mean, I'll just give you an
example. You know, at some of our airports, for instance, on
the lighting systems, you need incandescent bulbs. You can't
get them anymore that are sufficient for our runways, or you
have to go get a part because it's so old, you have to go to
eBay to get it rather than on the market.
I mean, are you finding this systemwide, and is the money
that we gave you in the One Big Beautiful Bill going toward
these kinds of things, or is that step two?
Mr. Bedford. Yes, so the money was allocated in many
different buckets. One of them is, in fact, surface runway
surveillance. I think Ranking Member Duckworth would know this,
that when I was visiting the Chicago Tower, we normally have
two of our SDX surface radars operational. We were down to one,
and that one was down to its final channel, all due to a lack
of supply chain, no parts.
And we actually manufacture many of these parts now, and
when we can't, we cannibalize them off of other systems. So,
with One Big Beautiful Bill, we are purchasing those new radar
systems, and they will be deployed starting in the second
quarter of next year.
Senator Capito. I want to ask you about the network outages
and connections. Our colleagues here have already, I think,
been on this talked about this, the telecommunication
connection redundancy. We've seen stoppages in certain
airports, and it's critical for safety.
So, can you explain how the FAA will oversee--I think it's
Peraton--did I get that correct?
Mr. Bedford. You did.
Senator Capito. Their effort to replace our legacy teleco
communications networks, and what are the timelines for these
replacements?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. If I can
just digress for a second----
Senator Capito. Certainly.
Mr. Bedford.--because I think the rest of the Committee
needs to understand this as well. When we talk about
modernizing telco, most people think about moving from copper
to fiber, going from analog to digital. And that's all true.
But there's another element of modernization that we aren't
doing today. The second round of funding that we're asking for
will be critical to get that done. And that is essentially to
re-architect how the fiber is laid. So, for example, Dallas
Fort Worth, we had a significant outage in our TRACON there.
That system theoretically was modernized, but the architecture
of that system had not been modernized.
So, there's really a two-step process here. So, even in
places where we're replacing copper with fiber, I just want to
be transparent that there is still another step that has to
happen to get from analog to digital, which will drive the
resilience and our capabilities to increase bandwidth in our
facility. So, it's an important distinction.
As far as the timeline on the telco, copper to fiber, it
will be completed by third quarter of 2027. We're 35 percent of
the way through now.
Senator Capito. OK. Thank you. Let me ask you something
that always comes up, and that's the number of air traffic
controllers, difficulties with keeping the numbers up enough to
be sufficient to be able to keep people off double shifts and
all that.
How are you doing on that? And have you made any
significant changes that you see on the recruitment aspect?
Because we know also, you can't just all of a sudden jump in
the seat. It takes 18 months, two years, before you can
actually grasp the system enough to be entrusted with the care
of the system. So, where are you on the numbers and on the
employment at air traffic control?
Mr. Bedford. Thank you for the question. Yes, so Secretary
Duffy supercharged controller hiring back in spring. We, in
fact, met his goal of hiring 2,000 trainees. Those trainees
went into production. The trainees have a high failure rate or
high washout rate.
And in fact, during the shutdown, we lost, I don't know,
400 or 500 of our trainees that just sort of gave up during the
lapse even though we kept the school open. I think the thought
of not being paid was enough to frighten them away.
I can tell you, we've increased the number of certified
trained controllers, not by a lot. We went from 10,600 to
10,700. We've got 1,000 more trainees in the pipeline than we
had a year ago. So, but as you point out, it's a two- to three-
year full training cycle to get them through the academies,
through our enhanced collegiate training programs and actually
deployed.
Furthermore, I can tell you, we have identified numerous
opportunities to improve the curriculum structure, and the
training, and how we move controllers through that to, I think,
significantly shorten the time to get to proficiency. And I
think that we've identified things that we are self-inflicting
in terms of how we schedule our controllers that are leading to
a lack of productivity.
Senator Capito. Yes, and burnout too, probably. Well, thank
you for your service. Thank you for answering my questions.
Appreciate it.
Mr. Bedford. You're welcome.
Senator Moran. Senator Capito, thank you. The Senator from
New Jersey, Senator Rosen.
STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Rosen. Well, thank you Chairman Moran, Ranking
Member Duckworth. And thank you, Senator Kim. I appreciate it.
And this is a perfect segue because I want to build on what
Senator Capito was talking about in our workforce pipeline,
because we have a military to commercial aviation workforce
pipeline that I think we should be potentiating.
So, I'm going to talk about how can we make it easier for
people with military aviation backgrounds, including those with
training comparable to air traffic controllers to enter the
commercial aviation workforce. You know, Nevada plays a major
role in national security and aerospace sector.
We're home to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada Test and
Training Range, Creech Air Force Base, and Fallon Naval Air
Station. Numerous other equities engage in aviation. Nellis is
seven miles northeast of Las Vegas, which covers more than
14,000 acres, and its ranges provide 15,000 square miles of
uninterrupted airspace for flying operations. And an estimated
12,000 military and civilian personnel work at Nellis, making
it one of the largest employers in southern Nevada.
So, Administrator Bedford, while individuals working as
military air traffic controllers may be able to bypass some
portions of FAA's ATC certification process to become civilian
controllers, they would still need to undergo additional
training.
So, can we talk about how we might leverage this pipeline?
You have people who've really been in the mix of some very
heavy training and lots of good experience. How can we break
the barriers down to bring them into the commercial workforce?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question, Senator
Rosen. As you may be aware, many of our controllers do come
from a military background. In fact, our Chief Operating
Officer is a former Navy guy. So, we welcome that experience.
We welcome that discipline to join our team. If there are
barriers of entry, I'll confess, I'm not sure what they are,
but I'd be happy to work with you.
Senator Rosen. Well, perhaps you can report back to this
committee because our veterans really want to be able to do
this. And so, maybe you can take a look at it, come work with
our team to talk about the barriers.
We can talk with some of our folks at Nellis and see what
they're thinking as well, because I think we're missing out in
a really great opportunity for our veterans to come into really
important jobs in airline safety and aviation safety.
They've been doing it for our men and women in uniform, and
there's no reason that they can't take that pride of ownership
and continue to do that for the rest of the country. So, we can
work on that offline.
Mr. Bedford. Thank you.
Senator Rosen. I also want to talk about non-traditional
air vehicles, because as you're aware, the national airspace,
it's becoming increasingly complex and crowded. More aircrafts
take to the skies, drones, electric vehicle takeoff, vertical
takeoff and landing, other advanced vehicles.
We're going to really need that nimble, efficient, and
responsive FAA that's prepared and trained to deal with the
ongoing technological advances that are occurring daily in the
aviation industry.
So, we talked about workforce as far as air traffic
controllers, but how are you going to ensure that the FAA has a
robust workforce overall, the technical capacity, the
institutional focus needed to help the aviation industry stand
the cutting edge of innovation, being a global leader, and
ensuring that safety?
Mr. Bedford. Wow. Thank you for that. That's a lot in
there. So----
Senator Rosen. It's a lot, but I mean, but there's a lot
going on every day. There's a new kind of drone, a new kind of
thing happening in the commercial space. And so, how do you
respond to that? How are you going to bring people up to deal
with that and even look forward to keep our air spaces safe?
That's really the end game here. Right?
Mr. Bedford. Well, you're probably aware that President
Trump has issued numerous EOs to unlock drone dominance, to
create EIPP----
Senator Rosen. So, where are we going to get the workforce
to be sure everything's safe?
Mr. Bedford. Well, it's a great question. So, the workforce
tools do need to modernize, and that's part of what you're
going to get both in the $12.5 billion, One Big Beautiful Bill,
and what we would hope for is additional funding to complete
modernization where we can operate in a strategic versus a
tactical manner.
Senator Rosen. So, who do you think to that regard? If we
get the money, but who's going to set forth, even if we have
commercial companies doing some of the training, public-private
partnerships, who's going to set the template or the
requirements per se, the standards, if you will, that these
schools or training facilities need to work on, need to be
thinking about? And this is what I'm actually asking you. You
need to set those frameworks.
I know I'm running out of time, but it's important to think
about that because the last thing we need is somebody
delivering your package for Christmas, and it is going to
interfere with something else in the aviation space.
Mr. Bedford. Well, I want to make sure most Americans
understand through our BV loss rules. We are absolutely
anticipating how we're deconflicting all of that airspace.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. Senator Kim.
STATEMENT OF HON. ANDY KIM,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
Senator Kim. Thank you. It's great to see you again.
Mr. Bedford. Likewise.
Senator Kim. Actually, I just want to build a little bit
off of what Senator Rosen was just talking about. You know, a
year ago we had a lot of confusion in New Jersey about drones,
about whether it was--what was true, what was not. We didn't
really have an ability to deconflict this, especially not in
real time. It caused a lot of panic. And I guess I'm just
trying to think through a year later, like, are we any better
off? And I'm not really sure.
I mean, when you and I, we went out to the FAA tech center
down in Atlantic City, we saw some really interesting tech that
was very nascent, but growing about the ability to track
unmanned vehicles, aerial vehicles, and aircraft. I guess I
just kind of want to get a sense from you just what else do we
need in terms of technology? How do we get that out there
deployed and proliferated to meet the scale?
Because I agree with you, you know, this technology is
strong. We want to make sure we're dominant in this, but it's
also going to create a lot of confusion and complexity. What
else do we need to do from not just a workforce side, but a
tech and innovation side? Do you feel like we're getting there?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question, Senator Kim.
I do think we're getting there. I think there's more work to be
done. Our BV loss rules will be very constructive working with
industry. We're not telling industry how to do it. We're
partnering with industry on how to figure out how to do it, and
make sure we as regulators and compliance personnel understand
that and can actually manage this process safely.
But I want to tell you that it's also a concern for
Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Department of
Justice. So, detection, threat assessment, and mitigation are
three additional principles that we're very focused on.
Senator Kim. You know, the joint military base and other
installations in my state, they had no idea what was going on,
let alone have equipment to be able to mitigate some of those.
So, you know, I'd love to continue working with you on this.
You know, I think that the tech center and elsewhere around
the world are doing great innovation. I want to just kind of
build off of what others were saying and just get an update
from you just on the Newark side of things. You know, we've had
a number of conversations about some of the challenges that
we've faced there.
I've been impressed and grateful for the attention and
efforts to try to strengthen that up, both in terms of upgrades
as well as staffing at the Philly TRACON in particular. But I
guess I just wanted an update for you so I can bring back to my
bosses in New Jersey. How are we doing? What else needs to be
done, and what's the timetable?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. Honestly, I
don't think our work will ever be done there. I mean, staffing
is going to be something that we're going to be focused on. I
think for the remainder of my term of office, I don't think we
can rest. Right? We'll have to keep our foot on the
accelerator.
Senator Kim. Especially as you're saying, it takes, you
know, two to three years to be able to get up to speed. And
then, each region, each area, they need to be proficient in
that space too.
Mr. Bedford. There is good news. We've seen a lot of the
telecom stability has been overcome, so I feel like we're on
better footing there. But I want to go back to the previous
caveat I made that what we're doing is we're replacing copper
with fiber.
Yes, it's more reliable, but we have not yet re-architected
how that fiber sits in the ground and its connectivity. So, we
still have some single points of failure that we're having to
work our way through as we identify and mitigate those.
So, I do think we've made a lot of progress. We're not
stopping, we still have a big upgrade cycle to do both at
Philly and in the tower in Newark.
Senator Kim. Am I able to go back to my bosses in New
Jersey and tell them that the blackouts on the radar and other
comms issues that we had earlier, that that's not something we
should expect anymore?
Mr. Bedford. Well, again, the NAS is still analog. You
know, even though we were putting in digital equipage, it's
still being converted to an analog signal. So, the surveillance
system, so as much as I want to tell you the system is stable
compared to where it was this summer, it's still at risk of the
fact that we're dealing with 50-year-old radars.
Senator Kim. One other thing I wanted to just get on your
radar is, you know, I've been hearing from my constituents,
especially those up by New York City up in North Jersey,
they're telling me like they're getting upwards of 170
helicopters going over their head over the course of a given
day. Much of that non-essential.
You know, there's a boom in tourism and whatnot. You know,
they have no problems with the law enforcement, with medical
needs and emergencies, but they were just asking me like, is
there anything we can do on this front? And I know it's not an
issue that every corner of the country faces, but it's
seriously disrupting their lives, their ability to be able to
just, you know, live the lives that they want.
And I guess I want to get a sense from you, what, if
anything, are we able to work on, and is there ability for you
to commit to working with me to try to figure out an
appropriate way forward?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I wish I could offer you a lot of hope
on noise. I think there are two ways we can help with noise.
First is modernize the system where we can keep aircraft at a
higher altitude and allow them to do power off descents into
the airspace, into landing. That will significantly increase
capacity and reduce noise impacts in our community.
I think the hope for helicopters, frankly, is in the future
of advanced air mobility. Those airframes are remarkably quiet.
And if we can replace helicopters with--forget, even if they're
vertical takeoff and lift vehicles, even conventional electric
vehicles, will be significantly quieter in the airspace than
what we have with conventional helicopter lift.
Senator Kim. Well, look, I'd like to continue this not just
that on the tech side, but what flight paths, I mean,
especially after the crash that we had in Hudson. You know,
there's a safety concern that many are facing. So, if you don't
mind, I'd love to be able to follow up with you.
Mr. Bedford. I would love to work with you on bringing out
our MARS technology as we think about New York airspace as an
airspace system, not four separate systems where we can drive
greater efficiency that I think would also benefit noise in the
market.
Senator Kim. OK. Thank you. And I yield back.
Senator Duckworth. Yes, I was with you too until you wanted
to get rid of helicopters, so.
[Laughter.]
Senator Duckworth. Senator Hickenlooper.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN HICKENLOOPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO
Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome back,
Mr. Bedford. You know, you were talking about the trainees, you
know, the shutdown being enough to scare 400 or 500 of them out
of their job. They probably wouldn't have been very good air
traffic controllers if that relatively small amount of stress
was going to disconcert them such.
Anyway, during that shutdown, Denver Airport actually
wanted to use its own funds to pay air traffic controllers who
were dutifully working through the shutdown. And I strongly, I
think, a lot of us, a lot of Senators strongly supported that.
And we've seen other proposals from this committee as well,
which would allow for the ATCs to be paid during a shutdown.
During this shutdown, controllers were not only working
long hours, but they were also sometimes taking on additional
jobs just to make their rent or get through their monthly
budget. Do you think it's important to reduce these kinds of
outside stressors for those dedicated workers who are coming in
even though they're not getting paid, they'll get the back pay,
but they're not getting paid, and they're in charge of not just
public safety, but the safety of our national airspace system?
You think it's useful to reduce those outside stressors?
Mr. Bedford. Yes.
Senator Hickenlooper. And so, what's your sense on whether
airports should be able to take on, hopefully be repaid later
when we get out of a shutdown, but they're willing to go
forward and out of their own pocket, pay the ATCs? Shouldn't
they be allowed to?
Mr. Bedford. Well, so the air traffic control system is
just that. It's a system having one control tower staffed, and
the rest of them, unstaffed, doesn't get us very far because
planes don't generally fly in circles.
So, what we need to do is think about a solution that could
solve the problem writ large. So, we look if the shoe were on
the other foot, if I were back in private industry and you got
word of the fact that I was actually requiring employees to
come to work and not paying them, I'm pretty sure you would
haul me in front of this committee and dress me down.
So, I would strongly encourage us to figure out a way to
not shut government down, but that's me as a private citizen
and a taxpayer, not as the FAA.
Senator Hickenlooper. I think all of us should probably
agree with you. Northern Colorado Regional Airport, which is up
in Fort Collins, kind of between Fort Collins and Greeley, was
piloting a remote tower through the end of 2024.
The bipartisan FAA reauthorization last year directed the
FAA to create a program and publish milestones for a remote
tower system. And these included establishing requirements,
safety protocols, approval of processes for the designs that
goes along testing operation of remote airport towers,
including talking to stakeholders, making sure everyone gets a
part of it. What progress has the FAA made on this mandate? So,
when and where can we expect to see more remote towers in
operation?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. We have the
digital remote tower sitting in our tech center. It's been
undergoing safety assessment and evaluation for the better part
of a year. I saw it right after I onboarded in August, and I
was just at the tech center again two weeks ago, frankly
pushing to get this work done.
They're on a pathway to certify the device now, I believe
by the end of the second quarter. I'd love to see us accelerate
that. We have a deployment in Bartow, Florida, right now where
they've purchased the system on their own, and we're allowing
them to operate in parallel. So, they keep their tower manned,
but they're also manning their remote tower to see if we see
any latency or other issues that would give us concern.
We have a second deployment, I believe, Florida has bought
a second one for Winter Haven. We've identified where we think
we would be able to roll out digital towers, both as a
supplement to our current tower as well, you know, as a digital
safety supplement, if you will.
We have poor lines of sight rather than building taller
towers, we might be able to use this technology more cost
efficiently to enhance our airport surveillance. So, I'm
excited about it, and I want to see us get this deployed just
as soon as possible.
Senator Hickenlooper. I assume that you're saying sometime
in this coming year, we should look at some move forward?
Mr. Bedford. Yes. You have my commitment on that.
Senator Hickenlooper. Good. Now, I want to talk a little
bit about ASCENT, what we call essential air service. We've
discussed in Colorado; the Essential Air Service program is an
economic lifeline for some of our rural communities. Places
like Cortez, Alamosa, Pueblo, connects them to Denver, as you
know.
During the shutdown, we saw EAS funding nearly dry up
multiple times before finally being included in the continuing
resolution. But obviously, living CR to CR is not a viable way
to operate. What is the FAA doing? Let now until we can get
past shutdowns completely? What is the FAA doing to ensure that
the Essential Air Service continues to serve its purpose of
connecting rural, rural communities to urban hubs?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. I want to
make sure I stay in my lane here. I believe EAS is under the
purview of the Department of Transportation not the FAA. But I
can tell you as a 35-year operator in a lot of those markets,
in Cortez, Pueblo, Farmington, Gunnison, Sheridan, I get all of
that stuff and that lifeline is critical. Absolutely.
I think one of the things that is going to usher in an
absolute change in our connectivity is advanced air mobility.
We can finally find a vehicle that is cost effective, it's the
right size, has the right operating parameter.
So, really excited about how we can actually reduce the
need to have an economic supplement, but allow the market to
actually address the need and with better frequency, you know,
and better customer service. I think advanced air mobility is
the key to unlocking that future.
Senator Hickenlooper. No, I agree, and lowering that cost
as you're describing. That's exactly point on, so that they
don't need that subsidy.
Mr. Bedford. Absolutely.
Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you. I yield back to the Chair.
Senator Moran [presiding]. Senator Hickenlooper, thank you.
I will highlight that in March--this is legislation I've
introduced in previous years as well--but in March, I
introduced legislation to allow the FAA to withdraw from the
Airport and Airway Trust Fund monies necessary to keep their
operations functioning during a shutdown. And I'd welcome any
support and----
Senator Hickenlooper. Sign me up.
Senator Moran.--and joining with you. Thank you. Thank you
for letting me market this effort. Senator Markey.
STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Administrator
Bedford, at your nomination hearing, you told me, ``I will
follow the ethics agreement that I've signed with the Office of
Government Ethics.'' And that ethics agreement requires you to
divest your holdings in Republic Airways within 90 days of your
confirmation, and you were confirmed back many, many, many
months ago.
So, it's been FIVE months since your confirmation. Senator
Cantwell asked you earlier but I will ask again, because in
answer to her question, you said that you are in compliance.
So, yes or no, have you divested your holdings in Republic
Airways?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I do appreciate the opportunity to add
more clarity to it. I continue to comply with all of my ethics
agreement requirements, especially the recusals that are in
force. I've briefed the entire FAA front office team, political
team, and the career ethics officers about the agreement.
Senator Markey. No, again, the question I'm asking is, have
you divested from Republic Airlines? Again, it's a very simple
question. And you said at the confirmation hearing, that would
be what you were going to do. Have you done that?
Mr. Bedford. So, again, just to make sure we're level set
here. I followed the advice I was getting from the career
ethics officers to seek an extension due to the fact that the
agreement to merge Republic and Mesa was being delayed.
Senator Markey. So, you received an extension?
Mr. Bedford. I applied for the extension at the advice of
the career ethics officers.
Senator Markey. No, I understand that.
Mr. Bedford. I didn't get a no.
Senator Markey. Did you get an extension?
Mr. Bedford. I was not told I did not get an extension.
Senator Markey. Did you get an extension?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I've learned after this hearing was
scheduled, that the OG decided not to grant that extension.
Senator Markey. You have not been granted an extension?
Mr. Bedford. By the time that extension was--or that
information was communicated to me, the merger had in fact
closed. The certificates have been canceled. And I'm now in a
position where I have to wait for them to be reissued, at which
point they will be divested.
Senator Markey. You have not divested from Republic in your
FIVE months on the job, and you have jurisdiction over that
airline.
Mr. Bedford. Hence the need from my----
Senator Markey. And that's completely unacceptable because
you were looking for an extension anyway. You should have just
divested. So, you came before this committee, and you testified
that you would follow your ethics agreements, and you have
contradicted your testimony, and you've broken your promise to
the American people.
And I understand that you requested a 60-day extension from
the Office of Government Ethics to divest from Republic
Airways, but you requested that extension on the last day. Your
divestment was due on October 7, and you did not receive an
extension. You didn't receive the extension.
So, Mr. Bedford, yes or no, did you make any effort to
divest from Republic before the date that you asked for the
extension and the divestment was due? Did you ever seek to
divest before that request for an extension?
Mr. Bedford. I worked very closely with the career ethics
officers at the department to make sure I maintained compliance
with my ethics agreement. And the advice was to seek an
extension, which I did, and I did not hear any response back
from the OGE until first week of December.
Senator Markey. Well, the answer is no. You requested an
extension at the very last second, and now you want to throw up
your hands and say it's not your fault.
Mr. Bedford. Well, that is why the recusals remain in
place, sir,
Senator Markey. Your request was denied. But even if it had
been granted, those 60 days have already passed as well. This
is five months ago that you were confirmed. So, even that 60-
day extension would've already expired and you still have not
divested. So, that is actually an egregious violation of your
agreement.
So, Administrator Bedford, when do you intend to comply
with your ethics agreement and fully divest from Republic? I
would like a date that you are going to be in compliance with
your ethics agreement. What's that date?
Mr. Bedford. So, as I sit here today, the shares have been
terminated, and I'm waiting for the shares to be reissued under
the new organizational structure. Those shares, as soon as
they're reissued, they'll be sent to my broker, and the broker
is instructed to sell them as reasonably practicable.
Senator Markey. Well, what does that mean? Does that mean a
year from now?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I don't know when the shares will be
reissued. So, I can't give you a specific date.
Senator Markey. Wow. So, five months have gone by, and you
haven't divested yet, and you have no idea when you will be
divesting in the future. And the merger between Republic and
Mesa closed on November 25. So, you could have sold before the
closing date and avoided any issues with share certificates,
but you didn't do that.
And shareholders tend to approve mergers because they
increase shareholder value, not decrease it. So, is your
recusal to comply with your ethics agreement at all motivated
by the Republic and Mesa merger?
Mr. Bedford. I'm not sure I follow your question.
Senator Markey. Well, I think it's pretty simple what I'm
saying, that merger.
Mr. Bedford. I'm recused from all things, both Republic
Airways on regional airline industry.
Senator Markey. Right. But did you think that maybe it
would be appropriate for you to divest before that merger?
Mr. Bedford. Sir, I followed the advice I was getting from
the career ethics officers. I played it right down the fairway,
completely transparent, open, honest about where I was at, what
I was trying to accomplish. I accepted their advice, I followed
their advice. And now I'm in a situation where the shares are
canceled, and I can't sell them even if I wanted to today. As
soon as they're reissued, I will divest----
Senator Markey. Your refusal to divest and the timing of
this merger are just a coincidence? I think that ethics
agreement was not a suggestion. It was something that you had
to comply with. And obviously, there are going to be more and
more conflicts that show up the longer that you stay in
conflict with the advocacy agreement.
So, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, but I expect you'll be back
at this hearing again and you still will not have divested. And
it's just unacceptable.
Senator Moran. Senator Duckworth's recognized.
Senator Duckworth. Thank you. I'm going to continue on this
question line. So, my understanding is Republic and Mesa, as my
colleague has mentioned, merger was completed November 25, but
your ethics agreement required you to have divested by July 9.
So, that was quite a ways before the merger was completed.
Why is the merger relevant to your decision? I mean, you
brought this up, you brought up the merger. Why is it relevant
to whether or not you divested before July 9?
Mr. Bedford. What's the July 9th date again?
Senator Duckworth. That was your ethics agreement required
you divested by July 9, 2025.
Mr. Bedford. Oh, I didn't onboard to the FAA until July 10.
So, I'm not sure where the July 9th date comes from.
Senator Duckworth. Well, even then, 60 days when you are
onboarded would still get you before the November 25, 2025
merger date.
Mr. Bedford. That's correct. Which is why I sought an
extension from the----
Senator Duckworth. On the last day?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I've been working with the career
officials----
Senator Duckworth. So, you're blaming the career officials?
Mr. Bedford. No, I'm saying that there was transparency
here. There was no attempt to hide anything.
Senator Duckworth. OK. Well, now that it's happened, if you
had sold your Republic shares on July 9 or 10, or the share
price would've been $14.40 per share, today it's $19.94, will
you forfeit any profit from your failure to comply within the
90-day deadline?
Mr. Bedford. I'm not sure where you're----
Senator Duckworth. For when you eventually sell. If you
eventually do divest, if the shares have increased in value
since whenever your divested deadline was, will you forfeit
those profits, give that money to the back to the taxpayer, do
something with it because you're taking advantage and you're
making more money off of it?
Mr. Bedford. My broker is instructed to sell the shares as
soon as he reasonably can, once the shares are reissued.
Senator Duckworth. Right. But I'm asking you about the
profits. If you had sold when you were supposed to, the shares
were worth $14.40 per share. At this current point in time,
they're worth $19.94 per share. So, that's a $5 per share
profit.
Mr. Bedford. Well, I can't deal on hypotheticals. It's
possible the share price could have gone down.
Senator Duckworth. OK. Well, they're up. If you make a
profit, are you going to--what are you going to do with the
profits? I mean, you were supposed to supposed to divest and
you haven't.
Mr. Bedford. I followed my recusals. I followed the ethics
agreement. I worked with the career officials to seek an
extension. And unfortunately, due to their lack of response,
I'm in a position where the shares don't exist to sell.
Senator Duckworth. But you could have sold them. You could
have sold them without asking for the--you could have sold them
when you promised us that you would have.
Mr. Bedford. I've been completely transparent with the
ethics officers, including how the agreement came together. My
intention was always to complete the merger and to sell the
shares in the market. That was my intention coming into
government.
Senator Duckworth. Right. But my point is, you were opposed
to divest within 60 days and you didn't. So, as you were
getting to day 56, 57, 58, 59, you can't blame this on the
ethics officer. You're the one who chose not to call your
broker and say, ``Sell. I have 60 days to sell.''
Mr. Bedford. I'm not attempting to--anyone. I'm simply
attempting to tell you what actually transpired.
Senator Duckworth. OK. So, you chose not to make the
decision to call your broker to say, ``It's day 59 or it's day
60, sell the shares. I made a promise to the U.S. Senate that I
would divest.''
Mr. Bedford. There's no market to sell the shares. It's a
private company. There's no market to sell the shares.
Senator Duckworth. I think you're going to be coming back
before this committee to answer these questions. I yield back,
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bedford. I do welcome your oversight. Thank you.
Senator Moran. What I want to talk about is Peraton. Mr.
Bedford, I don't know, I may have missed this, but Peraton will
be responsible for certain elements of the Administration's
overall modernization goals from replacement of
telecommunication systems to radars. What's the Peraton's
contractual responsibility for those programs? What are they
required to do?
Mr. Bedford. So, under the Peraton agreement, we set up a
series of needs packages that clearly articulate what the work
streams are and the estimated timeline to completion. Peraton's
profit, if we want to think about that, is essentially broken
into three different elements.
There's a fixed profit element of 3 percent, and then
there's a variable profitable element of 6 percent. The 6-
percent variable profitability element is contingent upon
completing the plan on budget and on time with our
satisfaction, and we will hold back 3 percent of the potential
profits for any potential damages that might happen for failure
to comply with our work packages.
So, it's a very strenuous agreement, and we have vigilant
oversight on it.
Senator Moran. An element of this modernization effort is
radar systems replacement. Replacement of the aging
surveillance radars for modern, reliable, interoperable
systems. Your agency is working to replace up to 612 systems by
June 2028.
What's an update to this, the aspect of this modernization
effort? What's the timeline awarding a contract that you're
working to meet?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for the question. Yes, we're
very close. We've down selected three qualified vendors. We've
tested their equipment. We will probably award over the next
two weeks a contract to potentially two of those suppliers in
order to meet our timelines.
So, I believe we will have that money committed by the end
of the year, and we will begin installations in second quarter
of 2026.
Senator Moran. Tell me about the Common Automation
Platform, CAP, next generation single unified air traffic
control system that handles both civil and military. Your
request for information for the CAP indicates that ``the
current NAS automation system infrastructure is siloed, and
flexible, and increasingly costly to maintain''.
What mitigation efforts is the FAA considering to make
certain that CAP will be implemented both safely, affordably,
and on time, consistent with the objectives of the
administration?
Mr. Bedford. Well, this would certainly be worthy of a much
longer dialogue, but let me try to explain it as
straightforward as I can. So, we have 350 different FAA
facilities. We might think of the 130-ish TRACON, and the 22 en
route centers, and the rest are towers.
But each one of these FAA facilities has its own compute
power, and this compute power also has an operating system. If
it's a tower or a TRACON, it has a STARS application. If it's
an en route center, it has an ERAM application.
In order to be successful, that next tranche of funding
that we're requesting will enable us to actually rearchitect
those systems so that we can lift them out of the local compute
power and into the cloud. And as we get that architecture into
the cloud, we essentially have unlimited compute power.
That will give us the ability to surveil the NAS as a
consolidated system where today we surveil it as 350 separate
systems. And every time a plane transitions from one system to
another, it requires a human handoff and a tactical
deconfliction.
We actually will be able, once we get the system in the
cloud, we will be to strategically deconflict flights before
they even leave the ground, giving us greater efficiency,
greater safety, and greater surveillance.
Senator Moran. It is worthy probably of a longer
conversation, and one in which I can think more clearly about
what you're telling me, but it is a significant undertaking.
Mr. Bedford. It will return us to the gold standard in the
world.
Senator Moran. That's great to hear. Just a couple of other
things then I'll conclude the hearing. We have a number of air
traffic control towers that the personnel are contract tower
personnel.
Mr. Bedford. Yes, sir.
Senator Moran. It's an important component of air traffic
control in states like Kansas, I think in Illinois as well.
Section 611 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 requires the
FAA to work with the Department of Labor to update wage
determinations for controllers and create a new wage
determination category or occupation code for air traffic
managers at contract towers. And there is a report on that is
due to Congress in six months.
Would you be able to tell me about implementation of that
requirement, and where you are, and where you're headed?
Mr. Bedford. Well, I'm going to be honest with you and tell
you I don't specifically know that one. I know we've got the
339 specific reauthorization requirements. We have 75 percent
of them done. The other 25 percent are in work. But I can talk
to you about our thoughts on the Federal contract tower
program, just not that specific one.
Senator Moran. Well, I've accomplished my goal.
Mr. Bedford. You've planted the seed. We will get it done.
Senator Moran. But anything you want to tell me about
contract towers?
Mr. Bedford. Well, so we also have an obligation to assess
the towers to see whether or not we should bring them into the
Federal tower program. We are doing that work. I think we're
close to identifying the first potential transitions. We also
have a focus on increasing the staff availability at our
Federal, or sorry, our contract tower programs. We're allowing
now our collegiate trained controllers to be able to report to
duty at a contract tower to help supplement their workforce
standing where if you think we're shorthanded in the Federal
towers, we're even more shorthanded in the contract towers. So,
we are aware we need to supplement them and to help them, and
ultimately the larger ones will convert to Federal towers.
Senator Moran. Final question. I believe in addition to
modernizing air traffic control systems, I also want to ask
about what more can be done to improve aircraft certification
processes.
We are a significant manufacturer of aircraft policies that
would allow for more rapid certification and deployment of
safety enhancements on the aircraft. So, sometimes this self-
certification and this certification process is considered--
there are safety concerns raised by people in this case. How do
you get the certification done to get the safety devices into
the manufacturing process?
Mr. Bedford. Well, thank you for that question. I couldn't
agree more. This is an area of significant focus for the FAA
right now. We've got so many certification programs going on
between Advanced Air Mobility Supersonic, and of course, we do
a lot of work in space, you may have heard.
So, this is probably an area where I would admit we're
resource-challenged, and we could do some extra hands there.
But the team is focused on it. We're bringing a theory of
constraints mentality to look at bottlenecks in the
certification process and how we can be more collaborative, but
also improve our oversight and surveillance. So, there's a lot
of work to do there.
Senator Moran. Senator Duckworth, anything to conclude?
Senator Duckworth. No.
Senator Moran. Very good. Administrator Bedford, again,
thank you.
Mr. Bedford. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
Senator Moran. Senators will have until the close of
business on Friday, December 19, to submit questions for the
record. In other words, there could be written questions coming
your direction. The witness, Mr. Bedford, you will have until
the close of business on January 7 to respond to those
questions.
And with that, the hearing is concluded.
[Whereupon, at 4:26 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Jerry Moran to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Question 1. Can you provide an updated timeline for the FMDS
acquisition, including key milestones, and clarify when initial
fielding and operational deployment can be expected following contract
award?
Answer. The FAA is currently executing a challenge-based
acquisition process to choose a final FMDS vendor. The challenge-based
acquisition focuses on evaluating solutions to FMDS for speed, safety,
efficiency, and innovation. The selected vendor will offer a mature
solution prepared to meet the FAA's FMDS goals. The final schedule is
dependent on the selection vendor solution approach and may change. The
following milestones are planned:
Award contract in Quarter 3 Fiscal Year 2026
Start pilot evaluation at key sites by Quarter 2 Fiscal Year
2027
Complete key site initial operating capability no later than
Quarter 1 Fiscal Year 2028
Question 2. How does the FAA plan to leverage existing,
operationally proven commercial technologies to accelerate ATC and NAS
modernization and deliver measurable operational improvements more
quickly than traditional, custom-built acquisition approaches?
Answer. The FAA routinely evaluates and, where appropriate, adopts
commercially available operational technologies that demonstrate
safety, interoperability, and efficiency benefits in the National
Airspace System (NAS). The agency continues to engage industry, gather
performance data, and integrate proven technology where it supports
modernization goals and delivers measurable operational improvements.
We anticipate that evaluation of operationally proven commercial
technologies will be part of the process. Our Flow Management Data and
Services (FMDS) challenge award process is a solid recent example of
this approach. Our evaluation of a common automation system will follow
a similar acquisition strategy.
Question 3. How is the FAA utilizing this $300 million from OBBB as
it relates to fully implementing PBN/RNP in the NAS? What more can the
FAA do to increase the utilization of RNP?
Answer. The FAA has established strategic initiatives to modernize
the NAS, focusing on data-driven decision-making and collaboration with
internal and external stakeholders.
Implementation of these performance-based navigation initiatives
will be accomplished regionally. To date, the FAA has established a
wide base of Performance Based Navigation (PBN) accessibility,
publishing 6,600 RNAV (GPS) procedures at 2,980 airports nationwide and
RNAV (RNP) or RNP AR (Authorization Required) for more complex or
operationally constrained environments. The FAA utilizes RNAV (RNP)
approaches and has published 432 procedures at 136 airports NAS-wide.
These PBN capabilities include those covered airports under section 619
of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 that now have PBN procedures
that meet section 619 requirements. RNAV (RNP)/RNP (AR) is a
requirement for the Established on RNP (EoR) reduced separation
standard, which is already implemented at 4 locations and planned for
additional locations across the NAS. FAA continues to support this
investment by analyzing and identifying opportunities to optimize
terminal and enroute airspace, procedures, and infrastructure to
address structural inefficiencies, overall system throughput, and
system resiliency. We are committed to being transparent and
accountable as we execute these projects.
Question 4. The FAA has stated its commitment to enabling resilient
operations across the NAS in line with the upcoming auction of spectrum
in the Upper C-Band. Recognizing that the agency's upcoming rulemaking
will prioritize meeting a proposed interference tolerance mask (ITM) as
the means of compliance for this mandate, will the FAA intend to also
reference the upcoming new Technical Standard Order TSO-C221 for radar
altimeters (which will meet the ITM by default) as an additional
possible method of compliance, beyond ITM tolerant TSO-C87 and TSO-C87a
radar altimeters?
Answer. Yes. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Requirements
for Interference-Tolerant Radio Altimeter Systems, was published on
January 7, 2026, and defines the proposed next generation interference
tolerance mask (ITM) (91 Fed. Reg. 459). As stated in the NPRM, when
the RTCA standard is complete, FAA anticipates recognizing it with new
TSOs, which would provide a means for obtaining an FAA design and
production approval for compliant equipment to facilitate aircraft
equipage as proposed in the NPRM.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Ted Budd to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Question 1. Much of the equipment currently used by our controllers
dates to the 1970s and 80s. Step into a tower and you might see a
controller keeping track of the airfield, traffic aloft, weather
conditions, and other information on a combination of paper flights
strips, spreadsheets, and half a dozen or more monitors showing dated,
unintuitive graphics.
Meanwhile, some of the largest major U.S. airlines are already
using commercially available software and AI-enabled decision-support
capabilities to improve their air traffic management operations to gain
system efficiencies. U.S.-based companies are providing these
capabilities today in the commercial aviation sector and to other
government agencies for critical operations.
As the FAA looks to modernize the national air traffic control
system, how is the agency evaluating and incorporating proven
commercial technologies from U.S.-based technology companies into its
modernization strategy?
Answer. The FAA is taking a disciplined, risk informed approach to
modernizing the NAS while maintaining safety and operational
continuity. The agency evaluates commercially available technologies,
including decision support and automation tools already used in the
aviation sector and other Federal operations. Through market research,
industry engagement, pilot efforts, and competitive procurements, the
FAA assesses maturity, cybersecurity, interoperability, and suitability
for the NAS. Our recent challenge based acquisition of FMDS and Common
Automation platform solutions is a good example of how we are exploring
using commercial off the shelf solutions and accelerating deployment of
best in class solutions. Where commercial solutions meet FAA safety,
certification, and mission requirements, they are incorporated into
modernization efforts to improve efficiency and controller
effectiveness.
Question 2. In August the FAA released a draft rule for beyond
visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations for drones. While the FAA's
work on this is appreciated, I do have some concerns. For example, the
draft rule does not include a pathway for current part 107 operators to
smoothly transition to part 108. As a result, experienced operators
with proven track records in safe BVLOS operations could be set back or
even shut down.
What is the FAA doing to ensure that the extensive feedback
provided by aviation experts, industry, and the public, are
incorporated into the final BVLOS rule to ensure a smooth transition
between part 107 waivers and full-scale operations under part 108?
Answer. The FAA is reviewing public comments submitted on the
Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) NPRM and may make changes from the
proposed rule to the final rule.
Question 3. The BVLOS draft rule also mandates a level 3 TSA
Security Threat Assessment for anyone who has ``unescorted access to
cargo loaded for transport'' on a drone. If we take current drone
operations as a baseline, this will mean that every customer walking
into a Walmart store that has a drone delivery operation would need to
be fingerprinted and cross-checked with FBI and DHS databases before
entering the store.
How will you work with the TSA to set up a risk-based security
framework without this sort of impractical red tape?
Answer. As stated in the NPRM, the FAA expects to issue a final
rule for the portions of the proposal that fall within its authority.
TSA will address matters within its authority in a separate final rule.
However, the FAA will work with TSA throughout the rulemaking process
as TSA addresses and responds to comments regarding the policy
proposals within its statutory authority.
Question 4. The BVLOS proposed rule requires drone manufacturers to
go through the prescriptive requirements of the aircraft type
certification process to fly BVLOS operations. FAA abandoned this
process several years ago and instead adopted the more flexible and
performance-based approach for drone aircraft certification called
Criteria for Making 44807 Determinations, or CMD process. A regulation
should not make it harder to operate than before the rule was
published.
As the FAA works to finalize a BVLOS rule, will you ensure that the
FAA includes language that embraces streamlined, proven aircraft
certification processes like CMD and resist efforts to move backwards
towards a prescriptive and unworkable aircraft certification process?
Answer. In the BVLOS NPRM, the FAA proposed a regulatory framework
for determining the airworthiness of unmanned aircraft for proposed
part 108 operations. The intent of the proposed process is to allow for
an efficient approval process of part 108 UAS, while maintaining the
safety of the public and the integrity of the NAS.
The FAA is currently reviewing comments on the NPRM while being
mindful of the statutory direction to ensure the final rule is both
performance-based and enabling.
Question 5. In Section 911 the FAA Reauthorization Act passed last
year, we required the FAA to establish a pilot program for drone
inspections of FAA's infrastructure within 180 days. We are now well
beyond that deadline. Do you have any status update on standing up the
FAA infrastructure inspection pilot program?
Answer. The FAA successfully initiated an infrastructure inspection
pilot program utilizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in accordance
with section 911 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. This program
aims to assess the potential of UAS to enhance FAA inspection and
oversight capabilities, improve data collection, increase employee
safety, and reduce operational costs.
UAS have been utilized for a variety of inspection tasks,
including:
Radar Inspections: Conducting precise inspections of radar
facilities.
Air Traffic Control Tower Inspections: Inspecting control
towers to support ongoing maintenance tasks.
Navigational Aid Inspections and Testing: Using UAS for both
inspection and testing of navigational aids to ensure accuracy
and functionality.
Land Inspections for Radar Tower Placement and Heights:
Evaluating potential radar tower locations and optimal heights.
Critical Infrastructure Inspections: Monitoring key
infrastructure assets to enhance operational safety and
reliability.
Disaster Response Support: Assisting with disaster response
by providing rapid UAS-based assessments of affected areas.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Eric Schmitt to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Mr. Bedford, the recently released FY 2026 Airport Terminal Program
(ATP) NOFO makes clear this is the final year of ATP funding, and
emphasizes criteria such as capacity expansion, replacement of aging
infrastructure, and readiness to obligate by October 30, 2026. Some
airports, such as STL Lambert, have made the active choice not to apply
in the earlier years of the grant program so they could submit an
application only once their project was fully ready for construction.
Question 1. How is the FAA accounting for airports that did not
receive any ATP awards in prior rounds, and is the agency giving
consideration to providing higher preference in this final round to
first-time applicants so that funding is not disproportionately
concentrated among airports that applied and received awards in earlier
years?
Answer. The Airport Terminal Program (ATP), authorized by the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), requires the Secretary
to ``provide a preference to projects that achieve a complete
development objective, even if awards for the project must be phased,
and the Secretary shall prioritize projects that have received partial
awards.'' The FAA also included this language in the FY26 ATP Notice Of
Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The ATP is highly competitive, with FAA
receiving over 500 applications requesting $8 billion in funding for
projects under last year's FY25 ATP NOFO. While the FAA is not
permitted to give higher preference to first-time applicants, the FAA
will give all applications full consideration based on the criteria set
forth in the statute.
Mr. Bedford, Missouri is set to host major global events in the
coming years, including 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Kansas City and
America 250 celebrations in St Louis. These events are expected to
bring tens of thousands of international visitors who will depend on
reliable connections through the busiest U.S. gateway airports to reach
the Midwest. Congress has discussed the idea of evaluating intelligent
approach technologies as a way to safely improve efficiency in this
highly congested airspace.
Question 2. How does the FAA plan to ensure that its air traffic
modernization efforts focus on preventing congestion at our coastal
gateway airports from having a ripple effect at Midwest airports like
St Louis?
Answer. The FAA is working toward the ability to manage the NAS as
an integrated network and is focusing its modernization efforts on
reducing congestion and improving flow across the entire system,
including both coastal gateway and inland airports. The agency's
current tools are both reactive and tactical. As part of its
modernization efforts, the FAA is developing SMART digital twins using
machine learning and AI to evaluate and deploy advanced arrival,
departure, and surface management capabilities that improve
predictability and throughput in congested airspace. In short we intend
to become more proactive and strategic in future airspace management
and design. These efforts will be coordinated through the Air Traffic
Organization to ensure major events and peak travel periods do not
adversely affect service to Midwest airports such as St Louis.
Question 3. Starting in August, the U.S. military has increased its
military presence in the Caribbean, which reportedly includes multiple
aviation assets. While no domestic U.S. air carriers fly to Venezuela,
the Caribbean airspace has significant commercial traffic. The
confluence of heavy commercial traffic and non-transponding military
aircraft is both a safety and security concern, exhibited not only by
the accident at DCA in January but also the encounter last week between
a U.S. air carrier and a U.S. Air Force tanker near Curacao, where the
air carrier had to take evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision.
a. What formal and/or informal measures have been taken between the
FAA and the Department of War to maintain clear communication and
mutual airspace awareness to ensure that the Caribbean airspace
maintains a high level of safety?
Answer. The FAA worked, and continues to work, closely with the
Department of War (DoW) regarding the safe use of FAA-controlled and
international airspace, including the Caribbean region. Through
established interagency coordination mechanisms, the FAA and DoW
exchange operational information, coordinate airspace use, and address
potential conflicts between military and civil aviation activities.
These efforts include both formal agreements and routine operational
coordination at the national and facility levels to maintain
situational awareness and mitigate safety-of-flight risks to civil
aviation operations. The Air Traffic Organization continuously monitors
conditions and adjusts traffic management strategies as needed to
maintain a high level of safety for commercial and military operations.
b. Additionally, what additional efforts is the FAA taking to make
sure operators (airlines) have appropriate real-time situational
awareness of military operations in Caribbean airspace?
Answer. The FAA provides air navigation services in the San Juan
Flight Information Region (FIR). Venezuela, Curacao, and Trinidad and
Tobago, respectively, provide air navigation services in the Maiquetia,
Curacao, and Piarco Flight Information Regions.
With respect to airspace that the FAA manages, the FAA provides
operators with timely operational information through established
communication channels, including air traffic control advisories,
aeronautical information products, and traffic management initiatives.
When military activity may affect civil operations, the FAA coordinates
with the DoW to share relevant information and issue appropriate
notices or advisories consistent with safety and security requirements.
Air traffic controllers provide real time information to aircraft as
conditions warrant to support pilot situational awareness. These
actions are managed by the Air Traffic Organization to ensure operators
receive accurate and actionable information without compromising
operational or national security considerations.
In addition, the FAA issues airspace notifications, including Air
Traffic Advisories and/or Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs), to inform
airspace users of hazardous areas, special use airspace activity, or
other conditions that may affect flight operations. These combined
measures support clear communication, mutual airspace awareness, and a
high level of safety for civil and military aviation operations in
airspace managed by the United States.
With respect to U.S. civil aviation operations in airspace managed
by other countries where such operations may encounter safety-of-flight
risks related to conflict, other military activity, extremist or
militant activity, or heightened tensions, the FAA may issue flight
prohibitions or advisories, as appropriate, for U.S. civil aviation.
The FAA issued flight advisories for the San Juan FIR, Maiquetia FIR,
Curacao FIR, and the portion of the Piarco FIR west of 0570000W due to
potential hazards from military activity. Those advisories were
cancelled when the military operations in the region subsided.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tim Sheehy to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Question 1. You have acknowledged that air traffic controller
staffing challenges remain significant and that improving training
pipelines is a priority for the FAA. One frequently discussed pathway
is the transition of experienced military air traffic controllers into
the civilian side. Please indicate whether you support, oppose, or are
evaluating the following potential approaches to improving the
military-to-civilian controller pipeline and explain the FAA's position
on each:
a. Raising the maximum hiring age for former military air traffic
controllers with substantial operational experience;
Answer. The FAA welcomes former military controllers to the Federal
workforce. They bring valuable experience and leadership to the FAA.
The FAA continues to evaluate potential changes to controller hiring
policies based on safety data, workforce analysis, and training
outcomes. Any consideration of age-related hiring criteria would
require a data driven assessment of operational impacts and close
coordination with Congress. The agency will follow statutory direction
and engage stakeholders as appropriate before pursuing any changes.
b. Prioritizing medical and security clearance processing for
former military air traffic controllers with current Department of War
clearances;
Answer. Over the past 10 months, the FAA has reduced the time it
takes for new controller trainees to get an Academy assignment from
more than 13 months to as little as 39 days, and we continue to look
for ways to further improve our processes. Former military air traffic
controllers tend to move faster through the medical and security
clearance processes, depending on individual circumstances. Department
of War medical clearances cannot currently be transferred to meet FAA
medical standards. However, those clearances can help move candidates
through the medical qualification process more efficiently.
With respect to security clearances, the FAA utilizes existing
authorities to accept prior completed background investigations and
favorable security eligibility determinations conducted by other
Federal agencies, including the Department of War. Consistent with
these authorities, the FAA may apply reciprocity for former military
air traffic controllers whose prior investigation meets the scope,
sensitivity, and recency requirements for the FAA position. Reciprocal
acceptance is substantially faster than initiating a new investigation.
However, reciprocal acceptance may be precluded if the candidate's
prior background investigation does not meet the requirements for the
FAA position or if the FAA identifies new adverse information.
c. Allowing limited credit toward the FAA Academy requirements
based on demonstrated equivalency between Department of War and FAA
training curricula, while maintaining all applicable safety standards;
and
Answer. The FAA continues to assess opportunities to align military
and FAA training pathways where equivalencies can be clearly
demonstrated through data and analysis. Any consideration of limited
credit toward FAA Academy requirements would require assessment of
training outcomes to meet all FAA safety, certification, and
operational standards. The agency would pursue such changes only with
appropriate oversight and consistent with statutory direction and
workforce needs.
d. Establishing a limited pilot program under which certain
military air traffic control training and experience may be credited
toward FAA certification, subject to FAA evaluation and oversight.
Answer. Military experience may inform placement and training
pathways, but all controllers must meet FAA facility-specific
certification requirements under FAA orders and safety management
processes. Military controllers transitioning to the FAA are evaluated
individually and assigned directly to FAA facilities based on their
demonstrated experience and qualifications. As with all FAA
controllers, certification requirements are facility-specific and
reflect the unique operational complexity and safety requirements of
each location.
Transitioning military controllers are held to the same
certification and performance standards as transferring FAA
controllers. While prior military experience is fully considered and
may reduce initial training requirements, all controllers must meet FAA
certification criteria under FAA oversight to ensure consistent safety
and operational integrity across the NAS.
Question 2. Some contract towers do not have radar and rely solely
on visual observation and pilot communication, which can become
strained during periods of high traffic, complex operations, or reduced
visibility. Airborne Position Reference Tools (APRT) can supplement
these towers with additional resources for situational awareness. What
more can Congress and the FAA do, from a policy or funding perspective,
to ensure that these contract towers are equipped with APRT?
Answer. The FAA agrees that Airborne Position Reference Tools
(APRT) can significantly enhance situational awareness at contract
towers that operate without radar, particularly during periods of high
traffic, complex operations, or reduced visibility.
Clarifying eligibility for airport authorities to use Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) funds for these systems could support broader
deployment.
Question 3. Helena Regional Airport is one of two towers nationwide
with non-radar approach control despite meeting the FAA's standards for
airport radar. Will you commit to working with Helena to design, fund,
install, and maintain additional surveillance equipment in their ATC
tower?
Answer. The FAA works with airports to assess surveillance needs
based on safety data, operational requirements, and system priorities
across the NAS. On December 12, 2025, the FAA operationally deployed
Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI) to Helena Regional Airport. Any
consideration of additional surveillance capabilities at Helena
Regional Airport would require further analysis, coordination with
stakeholders, and identification of available funding. The agency will
continue to engage with Helena as appropriate and will follow
established planning, budget, and congressional processes before
pursuing any changes.
The FAA also inaccurately lists Helena as an airport with Terminal
Radar Approach Control Facilities (TRACON) on its website--will you at
the least ensure that this inaccuracy is corrected?
Answer. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have
corrected the inaccuracy.
Question 4. Will you work with Glacier Park International Airport,
which has experienced increased passenger volume, inclement weather,
and adverse terrain, on its request for TRACON?
Answer. The FAA evaluates requests for terminal airspace services
based on safety data, traffic demand, airspace complexity, and system
wide priorities. Any consideration of TRACON services for Glacier Park
International Airport would require further operational analysis,
coordination with stakeholders, and identification of resources. The
agency will continue to engage with the airport as appropriate and will
follow established planning and budget processes before making any
decisions.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Ethics Agreement Violation. As we discussed at your hearing, I am
very concerned that you have still failed to divest from Republic
Airways (Republic) well past the deadline required by your ethics
agreement. I sent you a letter on December 9, 2025, requesting
documents and information about this matter. While I appreciate your
initial response on December 15, 2025, you failed to answer several
requests, and I have continued questions about this serious matter.
Question 1. In your OGE-278e, you acknowledged that Republic valued
its stock ``annually'' when it was a private company from 2017 until
its merger with Mesa Air Group (Mesa) in November 2025. You said that
the purchase price of your privately held Republic stock would be based
on the most recent valuation at the time of your resignation, which was
in July 2025. Please provide the most recent valuation of Republic's
private stock as of the deadline to divest in your ethics agreement
(October 7, 2025).
Answer. I do not have a copy of that report.
Question 2. When you were still president and CEO of Republic, when
was the last time the company valued its stock to the best of your
recollection? Please provide the month and year.
Answer. To the best of my recollection, it was completed in
February 2025.
Question 3. When you were still president and CEO of Republic, what
third party did the company retain to conduct its most recent valuation
of the company stock to the best of your recollection?
Answer. To the best of my recollection, it was performed by KPMG.
Question 4. According to a Certificate of Divestiture you obtained
from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on September 11, 2025, you
held 16,733 shares of Republic stock. Does this reflect the total
number of shares you presently hold? If not, please specify the number
of shares you presently hold.
Answer. No. The divestiture of my Republic Airways stock was
complete as of February 20, 2026.
Question 5. Had you divested your Republic stock on or before
October 7, 2025, as you were required to do, would your shares have
been worth less than what they are presently valued as of December 18,
2025 (RJET closing share price was $20.81)? If yes, please provide a
complete description of the difference in value.
Answer. Information regarding my stock holdings, value of
transactions related to such stock, and required divestiture is
detailed in my OGE 278e and OGE 278-T public financial disclosure
filings that are posted on the OGE website.
Question 6. Assuming you still intend to fully divest, if the value
of your shares in Republic has increased since October 7, 2025--which
appears likely given the completion of Republic's merger with Mesa--
will you forfeit any increased capital gains you receive?
Answer. Because I obtained a CD, I am required by OGE regulation to
reinvest the proceeds from the divestiture into ``permitted property''
within 60 days of the sale in order for the CD to remain effective.
Permitted property is limited to U.S. government obligations (i.e.,
Treasuries), diversified mutual funds, and diversified exchange-traded
funds. See 5 CFR Part 2634, Subpart J.
Question 7. As requested in my December 9, 2025, letter, please
provide all communications between you and any officer or employee of
Republic since your confirmation on July 9, 2025, regarding or relating
to Republic's merger with Mesa. If there are none, please certify that
to be the case after a reasonable search was conducted.
Answer. Please see my response to Question 14 in Senator
Duckworth's questions for the record.
Question 8. During your hearing on December 17, 2025, you claimed
to have relied on the advice of a career DOT ethics official to excuse
your violation of your ethics agreement. Did you ever inquire with any
DOT ethics official or OGE official about the status of your October 7,
2025, extension request? If yes, please list the date of each such
instance and the official(s) you contacted. If you do not provide this
information, your response will be deemed to acknowledge there were no
such attempts.
Answer. Once I submitted my extension request, the career
Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) for the Department of
Transportation advised me that the request had been submitted to OGE
and that it was pending with OGE for further action. I heard nothing
further on the matter until December 1. By that time, the merger was
completed and my shares were cancelled, subject to being reissued in
the new, merged company. I completed all other requirements under my
ethics agreement in advance of October 7.
Question 9. Please provide documentation reflecting each such
instance listed in response to the preceding request.
Answer. Documentation of my communications with DOT career ethics
staff was previously provided to the Committee in response to Senator
Cantwell's December 9, 2025, letter.
Question 10. Do you acknowledge that the responsibility for
ensuring full compliance with your ethics agreement is solely yours?
Answer. Yes. I have acted in good faith to remain in full
compliance with my ethics agreement--after submitting my ethics
agreement I followed OGE's process to request an extension before the
deadline lapsed, I awaited OGE's response to that request, and, after
receiving OGE's response, I began divesting the shares as soon as they
were re-issued to me.
Question 11. Before you sought an extension on October 7, 2025, you
received a Certificate of Divestiture from OGE on September 11, 2025.
Why did you not complete the process for divesting your shares with
Republic at that time?
Answer. When I executed my Ethics Agreement on June 4, 2025, I was
advised that my confirmation would likely run into mid-to-late August,
at the earliest. Given that I had expected the merger to be completed
before the end of August, I felt confident that I would be able to
dispose of my shares in the market post completion of the merger.
However, the Senate ultimately voted on my confirmation on July 9 and I
was sworn in on July 10; and the merger was not closed as quickly as I
had anticipated in early June. I did attempt to tender my shares to the
company on September 29, 2025. However, the company informed me they
would be unable to comply with the request before the end of October,
at which point I asked for the extension.
Question 12. As requested in my December 9, 2025 letter, please
provide a complete description of all actions you have taken since July
9, 2025, to divest your equity in Republic, including but not limited
to all communications with Republic about accelerating the vesting of
your stock, buying back your shares, or converting your vested
restricted stock units into private company stock.
Answer. Please see the response to Question 11. In addition, as
provided in my December 15, 2025, letter to you, DOT's DAEO told me
that OGE would be unable to respond to my EA amendment request until
after the lapse in appropriations ended. Therefore, DOT's DAEO and I
both understood that my EA amendment request was still a live matter
until December 1, 2025, when OGE e-mailed DOT's DAEO stating that OGE
would not grant the request.
At that time, the share issuer was working to process these
certificates, and at that time I did not have a means of further
accelerating the timeline for divestiture beyond the steps I had
already taken. It was my intent to ensure that the Republic divestiture
occurred as quickly as possible, and I instructed my account managers
to ensure this happened as soon as reasonably practicable.
Question 13. At the hearing on December 17, 2025, you testified
that you do not know when you will be able to divest from Republic
because your shares have now been terminated and you are waiting for
your shares to be reissued under the new organizational structure post-
merger. But as noted above, you sought and received a Certificate of
Divestiture on September 11, 2025--which indicates you had the ability
to divest your shares at that time, before the merger closed. Yes or
No: Had you divested by October 7, 2025, would you need any shares to
be reissued to effectuate your divestment?
Answer. I did request that Republic Airways divest my shares in
late September. However, Republic Airways indicated it would be unable
to complete the divestiture until the end of October. Accordingly, I
requested an extension from OGE.
Question 14. You testified during the hearing that your ``intention
was always to complete the merger and to sell the shares in the
market.'' Provide a complete explanation for why you ``always''
intended for Republic's merger with Mesa to complete before you
complied with the divestiture requirement in your ethics agreement.
Answer. Please refer to the answer to Question 11 above.
Question 15. In addition to fully responding to my questions for
the record, do you commit to fully complying with any additional
request or inquiry regarding your ethics agreement?
Answer. Yes, subject to any applicable legal privileges.
Military Training Flight Loopholes.
On July 29th this year, you delivered remarks at Chairman Cruz's
press conference unveiling the ROTOR Act stating that ``most all of the
comments and identified safety weaknesses that the families identified
have been incorporated in this key legislation and I certainly hope it
has strong bipartisan support'' yet during the December 17 hearing you
said that you ``shouldn't opine for the administration on whether the
administration is in favor or not.''
Question 1. Can you please clarify for the record whether you agree
that military flights--including proficiency flights (also known as
``check rides'')--should be required to broadcast their location in DC
airspace and in other busy airspace nationwide using ADS-B Out to
prevent safety risks to commercial flights?
Answer. Immediately following the accident on January 29, 2025, the
FAA changed operations in the National Capital Region requiring
aircraft to broadcast Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-
B) Out signals, subject to extremely limited exceptions. The FAA works
with the Department of War (DoW) to ensure safe integration of military
and civil operations in the National Airspace System. This includes
implementing more restrictive measures for DoW aircraft to broadcast
ADS-B Out signals in the Washington Tri-Area, DC, Class B airspace.
ADS-B Out Off authorizations are limited to missions critical to law
enforcement, national security, active continuity operations, and
Presidential transport. These exceptions do not include routine
training missions or transportation of personnel missions. The agency
supports measures that enhance situational awareness and mitigate risk,
including the use of surveillance technologies such as ADS-B Out,
consistent with operational, safety, and security requirements.
Air Traffic Organization Oversight and Fixing Controller Safety
Reporting Loop.
As we discussed at the hearing, controllers testifying at NTSB's
hearings on the DCA collision sounded the alarm that their reporting
system for filing safety concerns at FAA's Air Traffic Organization
does not work. They said this system--known as the Air Traffic Safety
Action Program (ATSAP)--is ``obsolete'' and ``ineffective''. This is a
safety issue--safety reporting systems are critical components of a
strong Safety Management System (SMS) and healthy safety culture. The
ATSAP is an important part of the Air Traffic Organization's SMS. You
and I have discussed this and have agreed that both FAA's and the Air
Traffic Organization's SMS does not work. That's why I've introduced
multiple bills requiring an expert review panel to ensure the FAA has a
mandatory, effective agency-wide SMS, which would also help fix the SMS
in individual FAA offices like the Air Traffic Organization. It's
encouraging to see in your testimony that you support my push and are
taking steps to implement an agency-wide SMS to ensure FAA better
manages and responds to safety risks.
But I am still very concerned that controller concerns were ignored
by FAA managers leading up to the DCA collision and that they are still
not being listened to at FAA. These systemic problems must be fixed.
Question 1. What specific actions are you taking to fix the broken
feedback loop that controllers and other air traffic personnel rely on
to voice safety concerns?
Answer. The FAA recognizes that timely and effective safety
reporting is essential to a strong Safety Management System. We are
aware of past concerns with ATSAP and are actively taking steps to
strengthen the feedback loop for controllers and other personnel,
including improving how reports are collected, analyzed, and addressed.
These efforts focus on integrating ATSAP data into broader SMS
processes, enhancing oversight, and reinforcing a safety culture where
employees can raise concerns without fear of reprisal. The agency
remains committed to ensuring that frontline safety observations inform
risk mitigation and operational decisions across the National Airspace
System, consistent with best practices and statutory guidance.
Question 2. Do I have your commitment to work with controllers and
other frontline employees to fix the safety culture and SMS at the Air
Traffic Organization? This is critical to ensure we don't see another
tragedy like the DCA collision.
Answer. The FAA is fully committed to working with controllers and
all frontline employees to strengthen the safety culture and Safety
Management System within the Air Traffic Organization. We take
seriously our responsibility to ensure that safety concerns are heard,
analyzed, and acted upon, and we will continue to prioritize continuous
improvement to prevent accidents and protect the flying public.
Question 3. As part of the FAA's newly announced agency-wide Flight
Plan 2026 Strategy, you mentioned that FAA will ``create one FAA Safety
Management System (SMS)'' and establish a Safety Integration Office to
promote a FAA-wide safety risk management process. How will ensuring
one integrated SMS at FAA help to fix problems with the individual SMS
at certain lines of business like the Air Traffic Organization?
Answer. Creating one integrated FAA Safety Management System (SMS)
will address longstanding challenges that arise when individual lines
of business implement SMS practices in isolation, with varying levels
of maturity, consistency, and effectiveness. A single FAA SMS will
establish common governance, standardized safety risk management (SRM)
processes, and shared accountability across the agency, while still
allowing lines of business such as the Air Traffic Organization to
manage specific operational safety risks.
The Aviation Safety Management System Organization will implement
an FAA-wide safety risk management process, develop comprehensive FAA
safety risk heat maps, and proactively identify hazards in the National
Airspace System (NAS) to mitigate risks before incidents occur. By
centralizing these functions, the FAA can ensure that hazards, causal
factors, and mitigations identified within one organization, are
evaluated and addressed consistently across organizational boundaries.
For the ATO specifically, this approach strengthens its SMS by
reinforcing disciplined SRM practices, improving data integration and
transparency, and ensuring that identified risks are elevated,
assessed, and mitigated using consistent FAA-wide criteria. Ultimately,
one integrated FAA SMS reduces fragmentation, improves risk visibility,
and strengthens the agency's ability to proactively manage safety
across the National Airspace System.
Question 4. Please describe what specific actions the Safety
Integration Office will take to proactively identify and address safety
hazards in the National Airspace System. How will the office ensure
safety data and actions to address related aviation safety concerns are
not siloed at any particular office of the FAA and that FAA employee
safety reports are acted upon?
Answer. An integrated SMS led by the Safety Integration Office
enables more effective use of safety data that already exists across
the agency. Data from programs such as Flight Operational Quality
Assurance (FOQA), the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP), and
the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) can be analyzed holistically
rather than within organizational stovepipes. This allows the FAA to
identify systemic and NAS-wide safety trends, validate risk
assumptions, and prioritize mitigations, including technological
investments, based on enterprise-level risk assessments rather than
localized perspectives and operating norms.
Air Traffic Control System Upgrade Accountability and Transparency.
The reconciliation law enacted in July mandates air traffic
facility closures and consolidations, raising legitimate concerns. It
requires the closure and consolidation of multiple Air Route Traffic
Control Centers (ARTCCs) and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACONs)
facilities. This means FAA must select at least three existing ARTCCs
for divestment and at least 10 existing ARTCCs for closure or
consolidation. Yet the law provides no guidance on how these impactful
decisions should be made. When the reconciliation bill came before the
Senate, I filed amendments to remove provisions that called for
facility consolidation and closure and instead reallocated those funds
to where they should go--to hire, train, and recruit more controllers
and invest in the replacement and modernization of air traffic control
towers at airports.
Question 1. What specific criteria does FAA intend to use to select
the ARTCCs and TRACONs that will be closed or consolidated?
Answer. While the One Big Beautiful Bill directs the FAA to conduct
realignment and consolidation of Air Route Traffic Control Centers and
TRACONs and provides funding to support analysis, planning, and
transition activities, the statute does not prescribe specific facility
selection criteria. The FAA intends to develop and apply criteria that
reflect safety data, operational requirements, capacity, and cost
considerations, consistent with statutory direction and existing
realignment frameworks. Any criteria will be informed by detailed
analysis, stakeholder engagement, and system-wide safety and
performance considerations, and the agency will ensure decisions are
guided by data and operational priorities.
Question 2. Will you commit to conducting a safety risk management
assessment before taking any actions to close or consolidate these
facilities to assess how such actions would impact FAA's workforce and
the safe management of air traffic in the NAS?
Answer. Yes, the FAA will conduct a safety risk assessment on the
consolidation of facilities to assess the safety risk and develop
mitigations to minimize that risk and ensure the continued safety
management of air traffic in the National Airspace System.
Question 3. How does FAA intend to notify and consult with affected
communities and segments of the FAA workforce before decisions are
finalized?
Answer. The FAA will follow applicable collective bargaining
agreements, labor-management obligations, statutory requirements, and
established consultation processes to notify and engage affected
employees, unions, and other stakeholders. The agency also intends to
coordinate with local communities, airport authorities, and relevant
partners. All engagement will be conducted in accordance with safety,
operational, and legal requirements.
Question 4. How will you ensure that facility closures and
consolidation don't displace controllers and other FAA air traffic
personnel and that FAA's ability to manage air traffic isn't
compromised in affected areas?
Answer. The FAA will carefully manage workforce impacts by
following collective bargaining agreements, applicable labor laws, and
established personnel policies. Any facility closure or consolidation
will be planned to mitigate adverse staffing impacts and ensure
operational capability, including reassignment, retraining, or other
workforce measures as needed to ensure that air traffic management and
safety are not compromised in affected areas.
Shutdown Flight Reductions at Top 40 Airports.
On November 6, the FAA announced that airlines had to reduce
flights by up to ten percent at the top 40 high-traffic airports
nationwide, citing controller staffing triggers and aviation safety
information system data. On November 12, DOT changed its order to hold
flight reductions steady at six percent, citing ``substantial and rapid
improvement in facility staffing conditions.'' FAA further reduced
flight cuts to three percent on November 14 before cancelling the
flight restrictions on November 17, returning the aviation system to
normal operations.
Question 1. Beginning on November 14, airlines were required to cut
three percent of flights. According to aviation analytics data from
Cirium, on Sunday, November 16, airlines canceled only a quarter of a
percent of flights, far below FAA's requirement. Later that evening,
FAA announced it would cancel flight restrictions. Mr. Bedford, you and
Sec. Duffy have cited safety data as the reason for cutting flights.
So, in your view, why did some airlines fail to comply with FAA's
requirements?
Answer. The FAA investigated apparent noncompliance with the flight
reduction orders. During the investigations, the airlines were afforded
the opportunity to provide information to the FAA, including
information on how they scheduled flights to attempt to comply with the
flight reduction requirement. The FAA considered the information
presented in determining whether the airlines were in compliance or
made a good faith effort to comply with the order.
Question 2. Early this month, the FAA sent letters to airlines
requesting that they prove their compliance with the required flight
cuts. Do you expect that FAA will fine airlines that did not comply?
Why or why not?
Answer. The FAA sent letters of investigation to airlines asking
them to submit information on apparent noncompliance with the required
flight reductions. After reviewing each airline's response explaining
how it complied with the flight restrictions, the FAA determined that
all airlines except one were in substantial compliance with the
restrictions. The one airline not in compliance received an
administrative warning letter based on the totality of the facts.
Question 3. Last year, we required the FAA to set maximum hiring
targets through FY 2028 to maximize its training capacity and increase
controller staffing. My bill would require FAA to do this for five more
years through FY 2033. Do you support this and agree with me that we
must ensure FAA continues maximum controller hiring for at least 10
consecutive years to better position FAA to offset future attrition and
retirements?
Answer. The FAA remains focused on sustaining a strong controller
workforce through continuous recruitment, training, and pipeline
development. Under Secretary Duffy's leadership, the agency has
implemented ``supercharged'' hiring initiatives and set an aggressive
goal, which the FAA exceeded. The FAA is also working with accredited
schools to expand the pipeline of controller candidates through our
Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative for FAA facilities
and Control Tower Operator Partnership (CTO-P) to assist in staffing
Federal contract towers. Additionally, the FAA is using tools to
address attrition, including retention bonuses. These are just some
examples of the initiatives currently in place. The FAA will continue
to evaluate staffing needs and hiring targets to ensure the Air Traffic
Organization is prepared to meet operational demands and maintain
safety across the National Airspace System.
FAA Workforce Brain Drain.
The FAA's ability to carry out its safety mission is seriously
hindered by the Trump Administration's attacks on the Federal
workforce. Both ACSAA and FAA Reauthorization call for more safety
staff, not less. FAA must invest in recruiting and training aircraft
certification experts, safety inspectors, maintenance technicians, and
more safety personnel who maintain our gold standard in aviation
safety.
Yet, this Administration has fired probationary personnel--the
future of the agency; encouraged about 2,100 FAA employees to retire
via buyouts; and FAA told its workforce in May to expect a Reduction in
Force. The flying public is counting on this administration not to
short-change safety.
Question 1. How will these personnel losses at FAA affect the
agency's ability to deliver a brand new air traffic control system in
three and a half years?
Answer. The FAA remains focused on delivering the Brand New Air
Traffic Control System on schedule while maintaining safety and
operational standards. The agency manages workforce changes through
recruitment, training, and strategic planning to ensure critical
expertise and program continuity.
Question 2. Are the departures from FAA's Deferred Resignation
Program affecting the ability of FAA's Air Traffic Organization to
implement airspace safety reforms in response to the DCA mid-air
collision? If not, has ATO done an assessment to assess and verify the
impacts of losing such personnel?
Answer. The Deferred Resignation Program did not include employees
in safety-critical job series such as air traffic controllers and
technicians. The Air Traffic Organization continuously monitors
workforce capacity and evaluates staffing levels to ensure it can
implement airspace safety reforms and maintain operational performance.
Any workforce changes are assessed to confirm that safety and mission-
critical functions are preserved.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Edward Markey to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
Question 1. Administrator Bedford, at your nomination hearing you
committed to convene airport service workers and other aviation
stakeholders to assess the need for an airport service worker wage and
benefit standard. Can you provide an exact date we can expect this
convening to occur?
Answer. Section 438 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, PL 118-
63, directed GAO to complete a comprehensive review of the domestic
airport service workforce and its impact on the aviation economy. The
Department of Transportation has received and reviewed GAO-25-107678,
Aviation Workforce: Contributions and Characteristics of Selected
Airport Workers and has no comments on the report but will continue to
monitor this issue.
Question 2. Airline competition is a vital component of a healthy
aviation industry. More competition among airlines simultaneously leads
to more consumer choice and improves airport workers' ability to fight
for better working conditions. Can you explain how you'll use airport
funding not only to enhance safety and capacity, but also to promote
access and competition amongst airlines at gates and other facilities
so the public can better realize the benefits of this investment in our
broader system?
Answer. Under 49 U.S.C. Sec. 47106(f), certain medium and large hub
airports where one or two carriers control more than 50 percent of
passenger boardings are required to submit a competition plan to the
FAA to receive an AIP grant or approval for a new Passenger Facility
Charge. These plans are intended to demonstrate how the airport will
facilitate access for new entrants and support expansion by existing
carriers. In addition, the Airport Terminal Program (ATP) authorized by
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) specifically requires
the FAA to consider ``projects that encourage actual and potential
competition'' as a factor when assessing projects applying for ATP.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tammy Duckworth to
Hon. Bryan Bedford
You were confirmed by the Senate on July 9, 2025. In your signed
ethics agreement with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), you
pledged to divest all Republic equities ``as soon as practicable but
not later than 90 days after my confirmation,'' and you also ``verified
that I will be able to carry out the divestiture within the time-frame
described above.''
Question 1. What individuals at Republic Airways, or outside
consultants, advisors or accountants, did you consult with to confirm
that you would be able to divest all holdings in Republic within 90
days of confirmation, before you signed your OGE ethics form verifying
that you would be able to carry out the divestiture within 90 days of
confirmation?
Answer. During this confirmation process, I consulted with my
financial advisor who I connected with Republic to facilitate the
transaction.
Question 2. What specific individuals at the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) and FAA did you consult with regarding your
intention to seek an extension, and on what specific dates did you
consult such ethics officials?
Answer. I attempted to tender my shares to the company on September
29, 2025. However, the company informed me they would be unable to
comply with the request before the end of October at which point I
asked for the extension. I communicated with the career DOT ethics
officials regarding such extension on October 6 and 7.
Question 3. Please provide all communications between you and DOT
and FAA employees regarding your OGE ethics agreement.
Answer. Please see my response to Question 9 in Ranking Member
Cantwell's questions for the record.
Question 4. When you led Republic Airways, did the company have a
policy where a non-response from Republic management to an employee
request for an extension, or a vendor request for an extension on
providing a contractually obligated payment, constituted an automatic
approval of the request?
Answer. For any questions regarding Republic Airways' policies and
procedures on employment or contractual matters, I would refer you to
the airline's counsel.
Question 5. Did you delay carrying out your divestiture in July
2025 because you anticipated the RJET share price rising once the
Republic and Mesa merger was finalized?
Answer. No--when I executed my Ethics Agreement on June 4, 2025, I
was advised that my confirmation would likely run into mid to late
August, at the earliest and, given that I had expected the merger to be
completed before the end of August, I felt confident that I would be
able to dispose of my shares in the market post completion of the
merger. However, the Senate ultimately voted on my confirmation on July
9 and I was sworn in on July 10, and the merger did not close as
quickly as I had anticipated in early June. I did attempt to tender my
shares to the company on September 29, 2025. However, the company
informed me they would be unable to comply with the request before the
end of October at which point I asked for the extension.
In accordance with my ethics agreement, I obtained a Certificate of
Divestiture (CD) from OGE before selling my Republic shares. Since the
CD was not issued until September 11, 2025, I could not have reasonably
divested before that date without voiding the effect of the CD.
Question 6. Did you delay carrying out your divestiture in August
2025 because you anticipated the RJET share price rising once the
Republic and Mesa merger was finalized?
Answer. Please see the answer to question 5 above.
Question 7. Did you delay carrying out your divestiture in
September 2025 because you anticipated the RJET share price rising once
the Republic and Mesa merger was finalized?
Answer. Please see the answer to question 5 above.
Question 8. Did you delay carrying out your divestiture in October
2025 because you anticipated the RJET share price rising once the
Republic and Mesa merger was finalized?
Answer. Please see the answer to question 5 above.
Question 9. Exactly how many shares of RJET did you own on July 9,
2025, and what was the total value?
Answer. I owned 16,733 shares.
Question 10. Exactly how many shares of RJET did you own on October
7, 2025, and what was the total value?
Answer. I owned 16,733 shares.
Question 11. Exactly how many shares of RJET do you own today, and
what is the total value?
Answer. None. The divestiture of my Republic Airways stock was
complete as of February 20, 2026.
Question 12. If you earn a profit from the increase in share value
from the date you were originally directed to divest by, will you
commit to donating your capital gains to charity, while forgoing
claiming the charitable tax deduction?
Answer. Because I obtained a CD, I am required by OGE regulation to
reinvest the proceeds from the divestiture into ``permitted property''
within 60 days of the sale in order for the CD to remain effective.
Permitted property is limited to U.S. government obligations (i.e.,
Treasuries), diversified mutual funds, and diversified exchange-traded
funds. See 5 CFR Part 2634, Subpart J.
Question 13. During the hearing, you stated you had not heard back
from OGE but then stated you did receive a response in early December.
You signed the agreement agreeing to complete the divestiture within 90
days of confirmation--why did you not have your financial advisors or
other consultants prepared to initiate the process on July 9, 2025, so
that it would be completed well before October 7, 2025.
Answer. Please see the answer to question 5 above.
Question 14. Between July 9, 2025, to today, did you engage in
written or verbal communication with former colleagues at Republic
Airways where the yet to be finalized Republic-Mesa merger was
mentioned?
Answer. Yes, only to the extent that I was seeking information in
furtherance of the divestiture process and when I requested Republic
Airways effectuate the divestiture at the end of September, which it
was unable to complete prior to October 7.
Question 15. Did you discuss your non-compliance with your OGE
divestiture commitment with Secretary Duffy verbally or in written
communication?
Answer. All conversations on this matter were addressed to DOT
career ethics officials.
Air Traffic Controller and FAA Technician Workforce Infrastructure
Question 1. Do you consider the Air Traffic Controller and FAA
Technician workforce to be a critical component of the Air Traffic
Control (ATC) system?
Answer. Yes.
Question 2. Do you believe modernizing the ATC system to build a
brand new, better ATC system requires strengthening FAA capabilities
and capacity to recruit, train and retain controllers and technicians?
Answer. Yes.
Question 3. In providing FAA with a $12.5 billion downpayment for
ATC modernization, did Congress include a statutory prohibition banning
FAA from investing in workforce facilities, such as additional FAA
academies, or a statutory prohibition banning FAA from investing in new
controller training equipment and technology for partner institutions
participating in the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-
CTI) and the Enhanced Initiative (E-CTI)?
Answer. Congress appropriated $12.5B in section 40003(a) of Public
Law 119-21. That statute allocated the funds to 14 enumerated purposes
and, under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 1301(a), the FAA is prohibited from using
those amounts for other purposes.
Question 4. Do you concur with me that FAA possesses statutory
authority to invest a portion of the $12.5 billion downpayment to
establish additional FAA Academies and expand the number of E-CTI
partners?
Answer. Section 40003(a) of Public Law 119-21 did not make funds
available to establish additional facilities specifically for training
air traffic controllers or technicians. However, several enumerated
purposes, including constructing a new air route traffic control center
(Sec. 40003(a)(7)) and consolidating terminal facilities
(Sec. 40003(a)(9)), may support facility improvements that increase the
FAA's workforce development and training capacity. In addition, the act
provided $100M for air traffic controller advanced training
technologies (Sec. 40003(a)(14)).
Section 40003(a) did not make funds available specifically for
expanding the number of E-CTI institutions.
Question 5. What would be the cost of opening and operating an
additional FAA Academy?
Answer. Section 119H of the Transportation, Housing and Urban
Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, effectively
prohibits the construction of a new Air Traffic Control Training
Academy.
Question 6. Regarding locations for additional FAA Academies, what
strategic considerations would FAA prioritize in selecting host
communities to maximize effectiveness and efficiency of FAA ATC
recruitment and training initiatives?
Answer. Section 119H of the Transportation, Housing and Urban
Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, effectively
prohibits the construction of a new Air Traffic Control Training
Academy.
Question 7. Anecdotally, I have heard a roadblock to expanding E-
CTI is initial equipment costs for interested colleges. What grant
programs or financial assistance can FAA provide to expand the program
to more schools?
Answer. The FAA does not use Federal funding to subsidize equipment
costs for colleges or universities participating in the E-CTI program.
While the FAA welcomes partnerships with colleges able to demonstrate
appropriate training capability, the agency focuses investment of
Federal funds on training, technology, and needed equipment upgrades at
federally owned air traffic facilities.
Question 8. As FAA works to expand E-CTI participation, how many
additional E-CTI institutions is FAA seeking to add by the end of
calendar year 2026?
Answer. Based on current outreach and ongoing discussions with
interested institutions, as well as the rigorous review process, FAA
anticipates the potential addition of at least five new E-CTI schools
by the end of calendar year 2026. FAA continues to engage with
prospective institutions and support expansion of the E-CTI program,
while recognizing that final participation decisions and implementation
schedules rest with the institutions themselves.
ATC Implementation
Question 1. At the hearing, you referred to a plan for BNATCS with
milestones and goals. Please provide my office with copies of the
implementation plans you referenced containing measurable outcomes and
precise milestones between now and December 31, 2028.
Answer. The BNATCS Program Plans were finalized with Peraton, our
Integrator, in early March 2026 with program milestones through
December 2028. We are currently on track to complete our public facing
website within the next 45 days.
Below is a list of milestones that have been completed as of the
beginning of FY 2026 Quarter 3.
2,431(out of 5,170) Telco connections transformed
36 (out of 450) IP voice switches installed
54 (out of 220) new surface awareness initiatives
3 (out of 612) new radar systems installed
253 (out of 1,581) radio sites converted nationwide
16 (out of 89) towers with electronic flight strips
4 (out of 191) weather systems installed in Alaska
Question 2. What specific steps is the FAA taking to ensure that
the first phase of ATC modernization prioritize investments that
address the most critical and at-risk ATC systems identified in FAA's
2023 operational risk assessment?
Answer. FAA has prioritized the systems to be modernized within the
Brand New Air Traffic Control System based on most critical need. GAO
identified 17 systems in the 2024 Report needing urgent action of which
11 are in Phase 1, having received funds from the One Big Beautiful
Bill. The FAA will address the other 6 systems that GAO identified with
other funding sources, including its annual F&E appropriation.
Question 3. How will the FAA ensure the ATC modernization project
preserves redundancy, resiliency, and careful transitions to avoid
disruptive gaps in capabilities that emerge when functional systems are
sunset and the replacement is not yet operational?
Answer. FAA has hired a best-in-class systems integrator, Peraton
to assist the FAA in delivering the Brand New Air Traffic Control
System without compromising safety, security or disrupting the National
Airspace System. Through the implementation of the Brand New Air
Traffic Control System, FAA aims to improve redundancy and resiliency
by deploying current and more advanced technology, such as fiber optic
telecommunications as opposed to copper wire and the latest surface
detection radars to replace unsustainable, decades old radars. Together
with Peraton, FAA will ensure thorough testing of new systems prior to
sunsetting legacy systems.
Question 4. What systems are being put in place to establish a
continuous, open line of communication between FAA's acquisition staff
and Peraton employees and ATC's rank and file controllers, supervisors
and technicians?
Answer. The FAA has established a governance structure with
leadership representing air traffic controllers and acquisition staff.
In addition, Peraton employees have obtained the necessary suitability
clearances to work inside FAA facilities and use FAA technology for
optimal partnership and cooperation with FAA staff.
Question 5. What will be the specific penalty triggers, dollar
amounts at risk, and NAS performance metrics that must be met before
Peraton receives full compensation?
Answer. The Integrator Accountability Contract contains award fee
criteria of schedule, quality, cost control, and management. Peraton's
failure to meet these criteria will result in reduced profits. In
addition, if Peraton creates unmanaged disruptions in the NAS, it will
incur financial penalties commensurate with the level of disruption.
Question 6. Do you commit that the employment of Peraton will not
be used as a means to escape responsibility for the implementation of
ATC modernization efforts? That ultimately the buck stops with you as
the FAA Administrator?
Answer. Yes.
GAO Reports
The GAO released a report titled ``Air Traffic Control Workforce:
FAA Should Establish Goals and Better Assess Its Hiring Processes'' on
December 17, 2025. The following questions are related to its
recommendations and findings.
Question 1. What plan has the FAA developed to meet the
recommendations outlined by the GAO report?
Answer. Following the Government Accountability Office's December
17, 2025 report Air Traffic Control Workforce: FAA Should Establish
Goals and Better Assess Its Hiring Processes, the FAA has agreed with
GAO's recommendations and is developing internal plans to address them.
The agency is working to establish measurable goals for recruiting,
hiring, and training air traffic controllers to support accountability
and improve outcomes. The FAA is also enhancing its use of data and
metrics, including planned dashboards and improved analysis of
applicant and training data, to better assess the effectiveness of its
hiring processes and inform decisions about where improvements are
needed. These efforts are ongoing and aligned with the FAA's broader
controller workforce strategy and modernization priorities.
Question 2. What actions will you take to address the lengthy
medical review process that applicants face? Does that data suggest
specific or recurring medical issues that applicants do not realize
will be disqualifying?
Answer. The FAA is applying the same ``3 E's'' (Education, Early
Intervention and Evolution of Standards) principles the agency used to
address the backlog of pilot medical certification requests. This
includes providing information to potential applicants and Air Traffic
Control Collegiate Training Initiative programs about possibly
disqualifying medical conditions and using science-based approaches to
large-scale data analysis to update standards as appropriate.
The FAA has increased staffing and support for the medical team
responsible for this work and is using computer automation to expedite
portions of the medical clearance process. We have hired physicians and
other resources which have dramatically reduced processing times. To
incentivize hiring, in FY25 the FAA was active in the recruitment of
retiring or separating military flight surgeons, and Aviation Medical
Examiners (AME). We hosted booths at large medical meetings that were
used as platforms for recruitment. We also utilized contract case
managers to more effectively manage the hiring goals.
Question 3. Which steps were removed or combined to change the
hiring process from eight steps to five?
Answer. Under Secretary Duffy's leadership to supercharge air
traffic controller hiring, FAA moved from a linear, gated process--
where all candidates had to wait for each applicant to complete the
entire step in the hiring process before moving to the next step--to a
continuous flow model. Under the prior approach, applicants frequently
advanced in larger batches as hiring actions progressed, which could
create delays unrelated to an individual applicant's readiness to move
forward.
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Under the current five-step process, applicants progress on an
individual basis as soon as they complete the requirements for each
step, rather than waiting for other applicants in the same announcement
or batch to reach the same point.
Under the consolidated continuous flow process, FAA reduced time-
to-hire for these positions by over five months.
Question 4. How has the FAA increased capacity at the FAA Academy?
Answer. Following the transition of governance of the FAA Academy
to the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), the ATO optimized resource
management and schedules to increase capacity, to include:
Adding additional labor categories to bring on teaching
assistants and adult educators as part of the instructor
workforce
Expanding specialized training in regional locations to free
up capacity
Implementing a tutoring center for students to augment
formal instruction
Updating curriculum and training scenarios to ensure the
most relevant skills are emphasized for successful on-the-job
training in the facilities, which reduces the time to become a
certified professional controller
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