Pre-Thanksgiving Press Conference

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm pleased to be here with Secretary Buttigieg and Administrator Pekoske ahead of what we think will be our busiest Thanksgiving travel period, ever.

While every day between now and Thanksgiving will be very busy, Tuesday is forecasted to be our busiest day. And while we know everyone wants to get to their final destination as quickly as possible, our priority is to get you there safely. You should rest assured that air travel is safer than ever.

The FAA works around the clock so that passengers are safe from takeoff to touchdown. In fact, we've seen recently a drop in close calls. For the first nine months of 2024, the rate of serious close calls decreased by 72% from the same period last year. That's the result of a lot of action that we've taken to address and prevent runway close calls, including deploying new technology around the country. For example, we sent four airfield surveillance systems to the fastest growing airports in the country - Austin, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Dallas Love. This technology reduces the risk of runway incursions by improving air traffic controllers' situational awareness. It's been so successful that we want to deploy that at 14 more airports by the end of this calendar year. We've also installed Approach Runway Verification Systems at more than 74 airport towers. This technology provides audio and visual alerts to controllers, if an arriving aircraft is lined up to land on the wrong airport surface. And, finally, we installed Runway Incursion Devices at five airports for operational evaluation. This technology provides air traffic controllers with audio or visual identification when a runway is not available for arrivals or departures. Looking ahead to next year, the FAA will begin to deploy this technology at 74 airports across the country.

Our thousands of air traffic professionals are ready for the increased volume this week and through the holiday season. We're closely watching the weather, which is, of course, the biggest source of delays, and we'll do our best to work around that. Our Command Center in Virginia has real time engagement with all of the airlines to find the most efficient, safe path around weather as it occurs.

We've also looked at what is needed to keep the air traffic moving efficiently in some of the most crowded air space in the country. For example, earlier this year, we made a decision to move the Newark area air traffic out of New York into the Philadelphia TRACON. With this move, we're able to relieve the stress in New York and improve controller staffing levels by recruiting and training controllers in Philadelphia. This has been meant to get us healthy on a staffing level. In addition to the controllers who came over from New York, we already have a strong pipeline of 28 certified controller trainees who want to work in this airspace. During the Thanksgiving travel period, we will use Traffic Flow Management Initiatives to deal with any staffing shortages on that particular day in this airspace. And we expect to have some of those shortages, so we're working diligently to make sure these initiatives can operate as efficiently as possible. These initiatives keep the system safe, and people should know that safety is never at risk. If we are short on staff, we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe.

We're also thinking long term when it comes to keeping the National Airspace System safe. We plan to hire another 2,000 controllers over the course of this year and the fiscal year going into next year.

We're also investing $4 billion in 400 airports around the country to improve their infrastructure, and we're expanding our university partnerships for training potential new hires into the towers. Just yesterday, we announced with Embry-Riddle a new enhanced controller training program, which is an important way for us to get more controllers out of the university system - in addition to out of our own academy.

While the FAA is doing its part to keep the skies safe, we need the public to do their part as well. Our agency and your flight crews are all focused on getting you to your destination safely. While thanking your flight crews is not required, it is highly encouraged. And as the Secretary mentioned earlier, let's remember to treat each other with respect during the travel season. I want to remind everyone that we have a zero-tolerance policy for unruly behavior. We will not hesitate to pursue civil penalties, legal enforcement action against any passenger who assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crew members.

Finally, some other things to remember while traveling. Please pack safe when it comes to lithium batteries. Remember to check recalls and keep the lithium batteries in the cabin, not in your checked bags. Please arrive in enough time to get through security and make your flight during this busy season, which all seems like a good segue to turn it over to Administrator Pekoske who will have some more travel tips for you for this travel season. Thank you.