Former ALPA Chief Named to Head FAA

J. Randolph "Randy" Babbitt, an aviation consultant at Oliver Wyman Group and former president and CEO of the Air Line Pilots Association, is President Obama’s choice to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.

That is also the latest in a series of Obama picks from the ranks of organized labor to work in key roles involving the transportation industry, pending Senate confirmation.

Obama earlier nominated United Transportation Union official Joseph C. Szabo to head the Federal Railroad Administration. He named Linda A. Puchala to the National Mediation Board that handles disputes in the rail and airline industries under the Railway Labor Act; she is a current NMB mediator who once was president of the Association of Flight Attendants.

Babbitt’s labor background is seen by some as a plus in helping the FAA get past a sometimes contentious relationship with its union of air traffic controllers who run the nation’s airspace.

A former Eastern Airlines pilot who flew more than 25 years, he became ALPA national president in 1991 and stayed about a decade before he became chairman and CEO of Eclat Consulting. Oliver Wyman acquired it in 2007.

The White House said “Babbitt is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of aviation safety and policy,” and was a 1993 presidential appointee to a commission on how the strengthen the airline industry. Last year, the secretary of transportation named him to a review panel to come up with ways to improve the FAA.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.