Industry Updates for Clients & Friends of Boyd Group International

Week Ending March 21, 2025

In This T&G: Special Review

• FAA Nominee: Validated By The Level of Opposition
• Boeing F-47 Program. Trojan Horse For New Management?
• Arrivals & Departures This week

Our Sponsor

Discover Your Next Market Opportunity.

Download MLB’s True Market & Visitation Studies Now.

______________________________________________

Brian Bedford As FAA Administrator:

A Nominee That Will Make A Difference

Summary: The Trump Administration has nominated a person of outstanding credentials and expertise as FAA administrator. Now he faces jive opposition from a phalanx of special-interest organizations and large parts of the travel industry media that aren't too concerned with facts.

OK let's grab a third rail here.

The nomination of Brian Bedford to be FAA administrator is brilliant. He has a strong background and expertise and is familiar with the entire aviation process.

It is important that leaders in aviation circle the wagons to support his appointment. And support him personally.

That’s the third rail part.

Mr. Bedford has grabbed one by daring to question the value of the as-implemented1500-hour training requirement for pilot entry. He has questioned whether it is accomplishing what it was intended to accomplish.

This has already generated dishonest media coverage headlined by comments like in the thumbnail above.

The headline is fake news.

And, calling it “fake” may be generous: Bedford has no history of trying to lower safety standards. The clowns at Fodor’s and other shallow-end publications only assume that since the current rule is couched as “safety” any criticism or question about it must be quashed. And they want to play politics, too.

Facts & Clear Data Are Where Safety Starts. Actually, what the nation really needs is to have more folks in the Fourth Estate who might want to investigate and become educated on the subject matter. Mr. Bedford has been clear about the realities and his views of this 1500-hour rule. That is not “lowering safety standards” – particularly when the comment comes from veneer sources that only demonstrate how ignorant they truly are.

For the folks just back from an excursion on Pluto, the 1500-hour rule was ordained by a knee jerk Congress after a crash in Buffalo several years ago. Higher training requirements are positive, but on its merits, the legislation passed on this matter doesn’t specifically meet that standard.

It doesn't include any curriculum or any specific training qualifications, just hours. In truth, which some folks really aren't too interested in, had this rule been in place it would not have avoided the accident that took place in Buffalo.

Training standards are needed. But the current 1500-hour rule as it stands is political pablum.

Brian Bedford has been clear about this and in doing so he is actually looking to increase safety. 

Making Pilot Standards A Political Soapbox Threatens Safety. The flying public should not be subject to requirements that make little difference in safety, and are politically motivated to generate false headlines. There's nothing wrong with having a requirement of certain hours to be a commercial airline pilot.

But there's a huge problem when there are no other clear training specifications for the skills that are required in that amount of time.

The Show Is Just Starting. Watch for ALPA to crank up its media machine, lining up its swooning media groupies to create a tsunami of articles written by “experts” claiming that this highly qualified appointee will make air travel a safety crapshoot. Character assassination.

The tenor will be that the administration is selling out to the airline industry cabal. Flat nonsense.

And don’t be surprised if the likes of Senator Schumer chime in with righteous indignation. ‘Course he was the one that paraded for Phil Washington as FAA Administrator. At his confirmation hearings, Washington had nothing in the way of identifying the solutions he would be pursuing. His aviation knowledge was essentially bupkis.

Didn’t see any outrage about that in Fodor’s, by the way.

What really puts the flying public at risk is political motivation masquerading as air safety.

What really puts the flying public at risk is politicians like Chuck Schumer eagerly trying to put his political appointees in positions such as this.

Mr. Bedford is a solution.

OK aviation leaders, get ready to return hostile fire. It’s one thing to issue glowing support press releases.

Now, be ready to defend the guy.

___________

___________

_______________

The F-47 Program:

Does It Include A De Facto Nationalization of Boeing? Or, At Least A Shadow Management Team?

Summary: With all the administrative and management and production fiascos, it appears to be a surprise the Administration awarded the F-47 contract to Boeing. But the Trump Administration may have a plan to use the program to accelerate the company back to profitability and management accountability.

OK, let's take stock of what's going on at Boeing.

·      The DOT-imposed limitation on 737 production isn’t going to get lifted anytime soon. Not enough progress has been made at Boeing to get its act together.

·      The next generation Air Force One program is years behind schedule and billions over budget. That's been going on since Trump's first administration and involves essentially just two airplanes.

·      Deliveries of the new KC-46 tanker to the Air Force have been halted. Cracks have been discovered on two airframes. Oops.

·      The 787 program is also in some stages of disarray, delaying deliveries.

·      Boeing’s botched space program marooned two people on a tiny space capsule for months instead of a few days. It took a private company to figure out a way to get them back to earth. It could have degenerated into an earth-to-Major-Tom event. (Google it if you must,)

Not exactly a track record that builds confidence.

So, this week we just heard that the Trump administration has awarded to Boeing the contract to design and produce a new “6^th generation” multi-mission fighter jet. One on which the future defense of the USA will depend.

On the surface, none of this makes any sense. Boeing can’t get a 737 delivered on time, yet they get this huge critical military contract.

Okay, think this one through. Boeing’s problems are due to inept leadership, not its actual capability to produce airliners, tankers and miscellaneous advanced airborne weaponry.

So, it actually it does make sense to inject this F-47 project into Boeing. Trump is a businessperson. He understands the importance of Boeing to the national economy and National Defense. He also probably understands that Boeing is wallowing around in an administrative and management heap of yogurt.

Think about it. This would be probably the biggest defense project ever, which means it will be one of the most monitored programs ever. This new F-47 represents a program that is going to infuse massive amounts of technical and administrative oversight into Boeing.

At all levels.

Okay, this is all supposition. But an interesting take.

In any case, you can bet on this. This is more than just a contract involving a flying machine. It is also an enormous Trojan Horse that is going to inject detailed independent oversight of Boeing. This dynamic has happened in the past, particularly during war time, where the federal government has essentially installed a team of shadow leaders at key suppliers to assure results.

So, the real bottom line here is that along with the F-47 contract, Boeing is getting new management oversight directly from the administration.

An administration that seems to be results oriented.

______________________

_______________________

Industry Observations From Not So Afar

The Southwest Drama. Scrap Metal Sale?  We’re in awe of the over 40,000 impressions of the short Linkedin post done last week relating Elliott-driven changes at WN to the inept stumbling that drove off loyal passengers at Braniff International in its last six months.

Another interesting view, albeit from the sidelines, is the facility outcome of allowing passengers to select their seats in advance. (What is mis-characterized as “seat assignment.”)

Wonder what Southwest is going to do with the hundreds and hundreds of “number poles” they’ve installed at gates across the country. Knowing WN, they’ll probably make some heavy gelt actually selling them to employees and the public as interesting historical items.

ATC Modernization. New Concepts, or Rehashed Script.  DOT Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce the outline of a new air traffic control system this week.

The leper’s bell determining if the new system is just another blast of hot air will be two things: one is having clearly defined standards, instead of just more money and controllers. Like, day-to-day standards.

The other is how much the airline industry is involved.

Standing by. Captain Michael Baiada and I have conferred on a new video covering what a viable ATC approach must be. Waiting to find what Mr. Duffy announces before we release it.

Huzzah! A New Airline Metric! Vacancy Rates. Apparently, some travel-related company has discovered the T-100 tables and has issued a ranking of which airports have airlines with the highest seat “vacancy rates.” Now consumers can determine which airports have the potential of having airlines with the benefit of lots of empty seats.

__________

Be Sure To Check Us Out For Beginning of Week Perspectives:

Our Track Record:

Since 1984: The New Standard In Futurist Aviation Consulting

________________________________________

A Little Bit About The T&G Philosophy and About And Boyd Group International

_____________________________________________