Michael Huerta to become official head of FAA

US President Barack Obama has nominated acting FAA administrator Michael Huerta to officially become the agency's full-time head for a five-year term.

Huerta abruptly ascended from FAA deputy administrator to acting chief in December 2011 after former administrator Randy Babbitt resigned following an arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated in suburban Virginia. Babbitt was mid-way through a five-year term that was not set to expire until May 2014.

According to a White House statement, Huerta will serve his own five-year term as administrator if the Senate confirms his nomination. Huerta has held various transportation-related positions in the public and private sectors, including serving as Dept. of Transportation chief of staff in the late 1990s.

At FAA's annual Aviation Forecast Conference earlier this month, Huerta spoke of the importance of aggressively modernizing the US ATC system.

Huerta's nomination quickly won the endorsement of US airlines. Airlines for America (A4A) president and CEO Nicholas Calio called him "an outstanding choice" and urged the Senate "to move swiftly on a nomination so important to the traveling public."

(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)