Release #11.17
July 25, 2011

ALPA to Congress: Resolve FAA Funding Immediately

WASHINGTON—The following is a statement made by Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l., regarding Congress inability to extend funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, is extremely disappointed that partisan politics have allowed the FAA authorization to expire, and that no agreement could be reached on an extension.

By allowing this to happen, Congress has put on hold, or put at risk, a number of significant projects and programs that were aimed at improving and modernizing this country’s aviation infrastructure. These improvements—which this country has needed for so long—are necessary to allow our aviation system to grow, and would potentially add thousands of jobs to our struggling economy. Not having a fully functional FAA threatens the growth of our national airspace system, not only eliminating those additional jobs, but placing thousands of current FAA employees out of work.

The longer this nation goes without an FAA extension or reauthorization, the harder it will be to get those programs back on track.

ALPA strongly urges Congress to get back on track, and move forward with a multi-year reauthorization bill to fund the agency appropriately.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 53,000 pilots at 39 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

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Contact: ALPA media relations, 703-481-4440 or media@alpa.org.