Air Traffic Control Woes and Boeing’s Newest 737s Top FAA’s 2024 Agenda

A new year is an occasion to assess work tasks, priorities and team goals. But for 2024, few of us face the kind of enormous must-do list confronting Michael Whitaker, the Federal Aviation Administration’s new leader. 

The Senate confirmed Whitaker, a former FAA deputy administrator and airline executive, 98-0 in late October, ending a 19-month vacancy in the agency’s top role. 

As he starts the year, the FAA is at a critical juncture with a considerable collection of projects, from staffing challenges to new aircraft certification to a troubling rise in the number of near-collision incidents over the past two years.

The FAA has operated without long-term funding since September. Congress has passed stopgap funding bills to carry the agency through March 8 and continues to work on a new five-year budget bill that has been entangled by disputes over raising the mandatory pilot retirement age by two years, to 67; easing the 58-year-old federal perimeter rule on the 1,250-mile limit for flights from Washington’s National Airport; and pilot training requirements.

The agency is also working to certify the smallest and largest variants of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft, the -7 and -10, under safety changes Congress imposed following two fatal crashes of the MAX. Earlier versions, the 8 and the 9, are in service.

The MAX 7’s approval is expected first, likely in the first half of 2024. Its initial customer, Southwest Airlines, is eager for the long-delayed variant, with 158 seats, to begin commercial service in late 2024. An FAA spokeswoman declined to discuss the 737 certification schedules. “Safety will dictate the timeline,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

The agency also is facing a wave of certification applications — and the formulation of safety standards — for electric air taxis, which could transform mobility in highly congested urban areas but present safety issues.

An assortment of U.S. startups producing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is pressing for FAA certification attention, with Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation hoping to deliver their first commercial craft in 2025. Joby delivered its first non-civilian vehicle to the U.S. Air Force in September. (Whitaker’s employer prior to his nomination as administrator, Supernal LLC, a Hyundai Motor-owned startup, is also developing an eVTOL aircraft.) The FAA will also review certification work from foreign aviation regulators for several eVTOL aircraft on similar development timelines in Europe, the UK and China.

Much of the FAA’s work pertains to hiring additional air traffic controllers to address a deficit of around 3,000. The shortage — exacerbated by a roughly 24-month halt in FAA training due to the pandemic — has been blamed for chronic fatigue, flight delays and the creeping number of unsettling incidents in both the U.S. airspace and on airport runways.

The U.S. has 13,300 controllers, with about 26% of those classified as trainees. Several of the busiest control centers, including New York City and parts of Florida, are well below FAA staffing minimums, leading to mandatory overtime work for many controllers.

Among other pressing items on the FAA’s agenda:

Pilot Mental Health

 In December, Whitaker formed an FAA rulemaking committee to consider ways the agency can address the current barriers that prevent pilots and air traffic controllers from disclosing their mental illnesses and seeking treatment. A regional jet incident with a mentally distressed Alaska Airlines pilot focused new urgency on the issue. Many pilots either don’t disclose their need for antidepressants or other assistance to medical examiners, or lie about it, fearing the loss of their FAA certification to fly. The committee is expected to file its report by March 30, and pilot unions are hoping the FAA will modernize its mental health protocols.

Pratt & Whitney

The RTX-owned engine maker is working through a powdered metal anomaly that may cause cracks and other problems with some parts within its PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines. Those powerplants are used on thousands of newer Airbus A320neo family aircraft around the world, including dozens at Spirit Airlines, Hawaiian and JetBlue Airways. The FAA has already ordered inspections and potential rework, with the issues expected to lead to GTF-powered aircraft grounded through 2026.

Commercial Space

With the growth of private space travel by SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and others, the FAA formed a committee in 2023 on commercial human space flight to formulate a safety framework. Current launch safety protocols aren’t regulated, and much of the industry supports the current approach. The FAA’s study of the issue is expected to get a public hearing in mid-2024 and whether new rules are needed to oversee space travelers’ safety. A congressional moratorium on such FAA regulation expires Jan. 1.