FAA Chief to Resign on Trump’s Inauguration Day

FAA chief Mike Whitaker said Thursday he would resign on January 20, 2025, which is when President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated. 

Whitaker did not say why he was resigning. Originally, his five-year term was supposed to end in 2028. 

In a statement sent to FAA staff, Whitaker emphasized the need for continuing increased oversight on Boeing and improving the National Airspace System. 

“And through it all, our safety mission remains the same,” Whitaker said in a statement to FAA staff. “After all, you have important work that must continue — managing air traffic across the country, making sure aircraft are safe, integrating new entrants, and planning for the future of aerospace.”

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

Whitaker, a former FAA deputy administrator and former executive at United Airlines, was confirmed by the Senate unanimously in 2023, ending nearly 19 months in which the agency had no Senate-confirmed chief. 

The agency has come under scrutiny in recent years for its outdated technology, air traffic controller shortage, a string of close calls and a systemwide outage in January 2023 that briefly halted all flights. The FAA’s previous lack of oversight into Boeing has also come under fire, following the two fatal 737 Max crashes and the Alaska Airlines blowout. 

Under Whitaker, the FAA has ramped up its oversight on Boeing, and he has received continued bipartisan support from Congress. 

Senator Tammy Duckworth, who chairs the Senate aviation panel, said Whitaker “has been doing an excellent job” on Wednesday, according to Politico. 

However, Whitaker has drawn the ire of one of Trump’s key allies: Elon Musk, who will co-chair the administration's newly minted Department of Government Efficiency. 

In September, Musk railed against Whitaker over FAA regulations halting SpaceX launches. Musk had repeatedly called for Whitaker’s resignation at the time and said the agency should punish Boeing over its botched Starliner launch rather than charge “petty” fines to SpaceX.