Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Mike Whitaker announced on Dec. 12 that he would resign from the agency on President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day.
Whitaker’s resignation, which will offer Trump a chance to choose the next head of the FAA, was detailed in a letter to the agency’s workforce on Thursday. The administrator called his leadership role an “honor of a lifetime.”
“The United States is the safest and most complex airspace in the world, and that is because of your commitment to the safety of the flying public,” Whitaker wrote. “This has been the best and most challenging job of my career, and I wanted you to hear directly from me that my tenure will come to a close on January 20, 2025.”
Whitaker added that FAA Deputy Administrator Katie Thomson will leave her post on Jan. 10, 2025, at which point Mark House, the FAA’s assistant administrator for finance and management, will replace her. House has been with the FAA for 20 years and has served on the management board since 2018. He will be the agency’s senior acting official during the transition to the second Trump administration.
Whitaker began helming the FAA in October 2023 as U.S. aviation received increased scrutiny over a flurry of near-collisions on airport runways, as well as staffing shortages for air traffic controllers. Both factors contributed to the passing of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which received bipartisan support.
As Boeing’s safety practices took center stage again this year following the Jan. 5 Alaskan Airlines incident, in which a door panel ripped off mid-flight on a Boeing 737 MAX, Whitaker was key to the agency’s oversight of the aerospace company. In February, Whitaker gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive safety plan to address the issues with its 737 MAX jets.
“It has not been business as usual for Boeing. We have dramatically increased oversight, including more inspectors and closer scrutiny over production,” Whitaker wrote in his letter. “We are also making sure the company implements a robust safety management system, which will be crucial to an enduring safety culture.”
Whitaker was previously an FAA deputy administrator and industry executive for companies such as United Airlines and the air taxi company Supernal. He saw little opposition during his 2023 confirmation in Washington and largely has bipartisan support.
Before Whitaker’s leadership, the FAA went 18 months without an administrator due to scrutiny and opposition from Senate Republicans over President Joe Biden’s first choice, Denver airport executive Phil Washington, for his limited aviation experience. The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced Whitaker’s nomination several weeks after his October 2023 confirmation hearing.
