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Bryan Bedford, the chief executive officer of regional airline Republic Airways Holdings Inc., is the frontrunner to be the next leader of the US Federal Aviation Administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Published Mar 12, 2025 • 2 minute read
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(Bloomberg) — Bryan Bedford, the chief executive officer of regional airline Republic Airways Holdings Inc., is the frontrunner to be the next leader of the US Federal Aviation Administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Bedford, who has been with Republic for more than 25 years, has been interviewed by President Donald Trump, according to one of the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations aren’t public. Trump hasn’t officially announced whether he’ll nominate Bedford so it’s still possible that the situation could change.
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If confirmed by the US Senate, Bedford would take over at the FAA at a critical juncture. The agency is grappling with the fallout from the worst US civil aviation disaster in decades after a mid-air collision between a helicopter and a commercial airliner near Washington in January. That disaster has spurred a call to action to boost air-traffic control staffing and upgrade outdated technology.
The Transportation Department referred questions to the White House. The White House didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
At the same time, the regulator is contending with government-wide directives from the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, including to trim back the size of its workforce.
The FAA is seeking a new administrator after Mike Whitaker stepped down on Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration. Whitaker had been in the post for a little over a year. Chris Rocheleau has been acting administrator while the FAA looks for a permanent successor to Whitaker.
The new FAA chief will have to navigate those challenges, while also continuing the agency’s enhanced oversight of manufacturing giant Boeing Co. following a near-catastrophic accident at the start of last year. In addition, the regulator is overseeing the entry of new technologies, including drones and air taxis, into the US airspace.
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Republic, one of the largest US regional carriers, operates flights for American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. It flies to more than 80 cities in the US and Canada on 900 daily flights.
Bedford steered Republic through a bankruptcy reorganization over about 14 months, exiting court protection in April 2017. At that time, the three major airlines held a combined 61% stake in the privately held company. The carrier explored going public in 2021, Bloomberg reported at the time, but the offering never materialized.
He bought Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. during its bankruptcy in 2009, then sold the carrier to to Indigo Partners LLC in 2013.
—With assistance from Josh Wingrove.
(Updates with acting administrator. An earlier version of this story was corrected to fix Whitaker’s tenure.)
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