FAA Administrator
Blakey was sworn in September 13, 2002, as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Her commission as FAA Administrator ended on September 13, 2007.
In 2007, Blakey described the current National Airspace System saying, "We are at a breaking point," and throughout her tenure she pushed for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, said to improve future air traffic capacity. It was to be funded by a controversial new FAA funding structure based on user fees, but in 2007 Congress instead opted to fund the program by increasing the tax on general-aviation jet fuel.
The FAA declared an impasse over contract negotiations and imposed work rules including partial pay caps for veteran controllers and an alternative, lower pay scale for new hires on the air traffic controller workforce, represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The five-year labor contract in dispute was imposed on Labor Day in 2006 after Congress failed to intervene. The FAA thus imposed a unilateral reduction in pay scale of approximately 30 percent on active air traffic controllers only—all other FAA employees, including air traffic staff (those air traffic employees not directly involved in the control of air traffic) and supervisors/management retained their pay scales. The following year the Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled against NATCA's 2006 grievance. In 2006, Blakey said the agency's final proposal would result in current controllers earning an average of $187,000 a year in pay and benefits after five-years, up from the current $166,000 average. NATCA disputed those figures, saying they included overtime needed because of staffing shortages.
In May 2006, she did not anticipate increased retirements saying, "I was very surprised that the union said that there would be retirements triggered under the current proposal." However, 828 controllers retired, exceeding the FAA's initial and revised forecasts. The FAA noted that the agency hired over 1,400 new air traffic controller trainees and employed 14,874 nationwide exceeding 2007's target. Trainees normally take three to five years to complete their training.
During Congressional testimony February 11, 2009, NATCA President Pat Forrey testified that 3,356 controllers left the active work force in the two years after the work rules were imposed by Blakey, and "Since the implementation of the imposed work rules, the FAA lost more than 46,000 years of air traffic control experience through retirements alone. Nearly one third (27 percent) of air traffic controllers in the FAA have less than five years experience, and 40 air traffic control facilities have more than half of its workforce composed of individuals with less than five years experience."
She became president and Chief Executive Officer of the industry trade association, Aerospace Industries Association, on Nov. 12, 2007.
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