Business Travel Coalition called on President Bush for the immediate removal of FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell, and to consider the removal of other top FAA officials involved with the growing commercial air services calamity that is grid-locking the nation, impacting hundreds of thousands of travelers, driving our air transportation system closer to the abyss of financial failure and embarrassing the country on a global scale.

The traveling public has had its trust broken and has lost confidence in the leadership of the FAA. Consider the shredding of FAA documents, removing of FAA inspectors at the request of airlines, allowing Southwest Airlines to fly aircraft out of compliance, collaborating with the airlines in abusing the Voluntary Disclosure Program, ignoring DOT Inspector General recommendations, leaving open 400 NTSB recommendations, failing to take responsibility at FAA headquarters for systemic failures and misleading Congress under oath.

BTC chairman Kevin Mitchell stated, “Robert Sturgell and his senior leadership have not accepted responsibility for the serious oversight problems that have violated the public trust. Instead, they have endeavored to frame the problem as rogue employees in a failed regional office. Moreover, the reckless audit processes emplaced represent a super-über CYA public relations initiative that by June 30 could embroil the airline industry and the FAA in its own Katrina-like hell. Bad motives beget bad strategy which begets bad results. In this case, a lack of leadership and integrity could bankrupt the airlines industry with widespread national economic consequences.”