A bipartisan group of senators, led by Roy Blunt, is out with a letter today asking that the Senate’s nascent FAA reauthorization bill include items such as changes to aircraft certification and greater use of the agency’s designation authority — but makes no mention of wholesale changes to air traffic control.
The letter, signed by Blunt, Maria Cantwell and 25 others, urges the leadership of the Commerce Committee to help cut “unnecessary red tape” that is making it harder for the aerospace industry to “deliver safer products in a timely manner.”
The letter also asks for the FAA to engage more actively with aviation authorities globally “to facilitate the validation of U.S. certified products and safety standards” and to “reduce FAA’s inconsistent interpretation of their own regulations.”
The lack of mention of any wholesale changes to air traffic control isn’t surprising; Blunt himself has been lukewarm on the matter and recently Sen. John Thune has suggested that it’s unlikely to be part of the Senate’s FAA bill, whenever it is released.