The aviation biz is on the edge of its narrow coach-class seats waiting to how president-elect Barak Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress address the laundry list of issues facing an industry that's losing money faster than a rube playing three-card monte.
The airlines and everyone who makes a living off them are looking to the next administration for help with labor contracts, air traffic control, take off slots in New York and infrastructure projects. Addressing these issues will impact the airlines and their employees, the nation's airports and everyone who flies, and they all expect Obama to give 'em a hand.
Air traffic controllers in particular can't wait for Jan. 20. "Talk about a morale booster," Doug Church of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Wired.com, referring to the results of Tuesday's election. "We have high hopes for better working conditions and a collaboration with the (Obama) administration."
Church points out that support for air traffic controllers is included in Obama's transportation policy. Safe to say, anything would be an improvement over the last two years, where controllers and the FAA bickered incessantly over staffing and wages.
Unions and wanna-be unions also are psyched.
Obama already has won big props from labor for supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize. This is an especially big deal at Delta, where flight attendants plan to launch an organizing drive now that the airlines merger with Northwest is complete. At American, where labor and management have been negotiating a contract for three years, both sides are watching the incoming administration closely to see where which side it might come down on.
The next administration also will have to sort out the mess that is New York City's airspace. Earlier this year the FAA proposed auctioning slots at JFK,
LaGuardia and Newark as a way to deal with congestion. The airlines cried foul and the Government Accountability Office ruled that the FAA overstepped its authority. The FAA went ahead with the plan anyway, prompting the Air Transport Association, the nation's largest industry trade group, to sue. If and when the next president wades into this *Days of Our Lives-*style soap opera, it seems likely he'll side with Congress, which opposes the auction.
David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association tells us the best way to clear the congestion isn't auctions slots but adopting a comprehensive air traffic control modernization program that would replace the current Eisenhower-era system with a GPS
network called NextGen. "We'll be pushing for a fair funding process, part of which would support air traffic control modernization," Castelveter says.
One way for Obama to not make friends in the aviation community is to support re-regulation of the industry. While he hasn't indicated that he will, Kevin Mitchell of the Business Traveler's Association told Bloomberg that in an Obama world, there may be "steps to discourage airlines from sending maintenance work overseas to save costs." Sounds to us like a small step on the road to increased government control - something legendary airline executive Bob Crandall has called for.
With the economy nosediving faster than a stalled 747, the aviation industry wants to ensure it gets a piece of any infrastructure spending bill Obama may push through. Airport directors from around the country have been begging Congress to make sure any infrastructure stimulus plans funnel cash into airport projects. It's not a bad idea, considering the Airports Council
International predicts airports will have to spend $14 billion on upkeep and expansion during the next five years.
That's quite a list of issues, and it doesn't even touch on oil speculation, offshore drilling, alternative fuels, or foreign ownership of US airlines. Obama seems committed to working on the challenges facing aviation. But with everything else going on in the world, we hope he'll have the time.
POST UPDATED 12:50 p.m. PDT.
*Photo by Flickr user matt.hintsa. *
