The Federal Aviation Administration is overhauling its internal structure to modernize and increase safety, its leaders announced on Monday, in a shake-up intended to make the agency more responsive at a time of heightened focus on improving the security of air travel.
The F.A.A.’s new organizational chart will concentrate safety oversight functions in a new, single office instead of leaving them spread among several divisions. The agency will also open an airspace modernization office to support its efforts toward a new air traffic control system, and create a division focused solely on drones, air taxis and other advanced aircraft. The new structure also consolidates many of the agency’s administrative functions, including finance, human resources and information technology, in a single office.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the F.A.A. administrator, Bryan Bedford, announced the new structure on Monday, just ahead of the first anniversary of a midair collision outside Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people and prompted a public outcry for improved aviation safety. Many of the changes were mandated by Congress in 2024, as part of a bill authorizing the F.A.A.’s activities for the next five years.
“With these critical organizational changes, the F.A.A. can streamline the bureaucracy, encourage innovation and deliver a new air traffic control system,” Mr. Duffy said in a statement, adding that safety would be enhanced along the way.
The new plan also calls for some F.A.A. offices, including the new one responsible for drones and other advanced aviation technologies, answering to the agency’s deputy administrator, Chris Rocheleau, instead of directly to Mr. Bedford. Mr. Duffy’s and Mr. Bedford’s announcement said that no layoffs were expected as part of the restructuring.
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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