Trump nominating former Delta pilot to international aviation post
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While it has no policing powers, the International Civil Aviation Organisation uses consensus to set standards on everything from runways to seat belts.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump is nominating former Delta Air Lines pilot Jeffrey Anderson to serve as US ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the White House said on July 17, in a move opposed by a major airline pilots’ union.
The nomination comes as some US senators want the Trump administration to advocate at the Montreal-based UN civil aviation body for raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 65 to 67.
The United States has not had a permanent ambassador at the ICAO since July 2022 when Mr C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed an Airbus A320 on New York’s Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of geese, stepped down.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), a union which represents more than 79,000 pilots at 42 US and Canadian airlines, criticised Mr Trump's nomination of Mr Anderson, calling him unqualified.
“It appears that Mr Anderson’s only real qualification for the post is his support of a position – raising the mandatory pilot retirement age – that would leave the United States as an outlier in the global aviation space and create chaos on pilot labour, and international and domestic flight operations,” the union said in a statement.
In 2024, Congress rejected a push to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. International rules prevent airline pilots older than 65 from flying in most countries outside the US.
The White House defended Mr Anderson’s nomination in a statement, noting he was a decorated veteran naval aviator with decades of experience as a pilot for Delta and a negotiator for ALPA “who will deliver on President Trump’s vision of aviation safety for the American people at ICAO”.
ICAO plays a key role in global aviation safety.
While it has no policing powers, ICAO uses consensus to set standards on everything from runways to seat belts. The agency was created after the United States invited more than 50 allies to agree in 1944 to a common air navigation system.
The 193-nation body will hold its triennial assembly from Sept 23 to Oct 3 in 2025. REUTERS
