Aviation policies new US Secretary of Transportation will and should pursue

Sara Nelson:

Well, look, I think that in order to do anything, in order to move forward on any kind of innovation and to tackle climate, what we have to remember is where we’ve gotten stuck is when you leave the people behind and leave the workers behind. And so they’re very skeptical about any changes because there hasn’t been a focus on workers and maintaining good jobs. So the Biden administration, pairing those two things together is really what’s going to make this successful.

And there’s no reason to be worried about that when you have an administration that is looking at innovation in a way that is going to make people’s lives better. The truth is that if we don’t tackle climate change, that’s going to be the real job killer because we won’t have airplanes that can even take off. We’re going to get so hot, for example. We’ve had flight attendants bouncing around the cabin with increased turbulence. So we’re excited about this. We think that the focus on people and good jobs is going to actually help move that innovation forward.

Ken Quinn:

And one of the things about good jobs too, is really needed infrastructure development, right? And it seems like Biden is very committed to that. The new secretary is very committed to that. Talked about it on the campaign trail. Billions of dollars needed and involved in a big JFK project, but where’s the money going to come from now?

Are we worried that the financial markets are going to close up on not lend and their big partners, the airlines, are laying off people now? They really don’t want to talk about new terminals. They don’t want to talk about new runways. They want to talk about survival and government help to them. Not airports spending more money. Sharon, what are your thoughts on that? Where’s the money going to come from?

Sharon Pinkerton:

Yeah, well today I think that the approach has been some mix of the trust fund and the general fund. And I think that that commitment needs to be continued quite frankly. I would take a little bit of issue. I think that carriers have worked pretty well with airports in terms of just trying to adjust schedules with respect to these big projects, but our support for JFK and the changes that would wordy it, et cetera, is undiminished.

We’re still supporting. The schedule may have changed a bit. But I think that there is, and always have been, and will continue to be a lot of capital available for these projects. And I do think we need to be prudent about the investments. It’s not just the air side investments that need to be made, but frankly, our air traffic control system.

If NATCA were here, Paul Rinaldi would tell you our air traffic control system needs some investment. The facilities need to be upgraded. And we need to, I think, do a better job on implementing some of these new technologies continues to send approach, et cetera. Things that are not just good infrastructure, but also good for the environment.

Ken Quinn:

Mike, where’s the doh going to come from though, for things like next gen and air traffic modernization. Those are typically not privately funded projects. You could have a car isle putting in a lot of money for a new terminal. That’s more private funding, but with the feds spending trillions of dollars on COVID relief, which remains the top priority of the administration. How’s this stuff going to get funded? And are aren’t you worried that aviation will be left behind?

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