Marion Blakey
Marion Blakey
Born	1948 Gadsden, Alabama
Occupation(s)	Former Public Servant, Chief Executive Officer
Spouse	Married
Children	one daughter

Marion Clifton Blakey (born March 26, 1948) was the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. She was the second woman to hold the position, serving as a successor to Jane Garvey, the first woman to hold the Administrator title.

Background

Blakey was born in Gadsden, Alabama in 1948, the daughter of an insurance lawyer and an English teacher. She had one sibling, Leslie.^[1] Blakey received her bachelor's degree with honors in international studies from Mary Washington College (1970) of the University of Virginia. She also attended Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (1973) for graduate work in Middle East Affairs,^[2] and the University of Florence in Florence, Italy (1969).

She is married to William Ryan Dooley, and they have one one daughter born in 1987.^[1]

Non-governmental service

From 1993 to 2001, Blakey was the principal of Blakey & Associates, now Blakey & Agnew, a Washington, D.C. public affairs consulting firm with a particular focus on transportation issues and traffic safety.^[2]

Prior US government service

Blakey has held four previous Presidential appointments, two of which required Senate confirmation. From 1992 to 1993, Blakey served as Administrator of the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As the nation's leading highway safety official, she was charged with reducing deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. Prior to her service at NHTSA, she held key positions at the United States Department of Commerce, the United States Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the White House, and the United States Department of Transportation.^[2]

NTSB Chairman

During her tenure as National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman from September 26, 2001 to September 13, 2002, Blakey managed a number of accident investigations including the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in November 2001. Blakey worked to improve the Board's accident reporting process and increased industry and regulatory responsiveness to NTSB safety recommendations. Additionally, Blakey strengthened the Board's advocacy and outreach programs to promote safer travel throughout all modes of transportation. She also furthered development of the NTSB Academy as a national and international resource to enhance aviation safety and accident investigations.^[2]

FAA Administrator

Blakey was sworn in September 13, 2002 as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Her commission as FAA Administrator ended on September 13, 2007. In October 2007, the White House indicated they would nominate the acting administrator, Robert A. Sturgell, as her replacement. He had been deputy FAA administrator since 2003.^[3]

In 2007, Blakey described the current National Airspace System saying, "We are at a breaking point,"^[4] and throughout her tenure she pushed for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, said to improve future air traffic capacity. It was to be funded by a controversial new FAA funding structure based on user fees, but in 2007 Congress instead opted to fund the program by increasing the tax on general-aviation jet fuel.^[5]

Some sources blamed the FAA, under Blakey's leadership, in part for increasing flight delays that are reaching or exceeding record levels.^[6] Just prior to departure as administrator, she attributed the increased delays on poor scheduling by the airlines at busy airports.^[7] Shortly after her tenure ended, on September 25, 2007, the Office of the Inspector General issued a report stating, "Based on the first 7 months of the year, it is clear that 2007 may be the busiest may be the busiest travel period since the peak of 2000 and may surpass the 2000 record levels for flight delays, cancellations and diversions."^[8]

The FAA declared an impasse over contract negotiations and imposed work rules including partial pay caps for veteran controllers and an alternative, lower pay scale for new hires on the air traffic controller workforce, represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The five-year labor contract in dispute was implemented after Congress refused to intervene and the Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled against NATCA's 2006 grievance.^[9] In 2006, Blakey said the agency's final proposal would result in current controllers earning an average of $187,000 a year in pay and benefits after five-years, up from the current $166,000 average.^[10]

However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) union disputed the FAA's figures, saying they were distorted and included overtime needed because of staffing shortages.^[11]

At the time she did not anticipate increased retirements saying, "I was very surprised that the union said that there would be retirements triggered under the current proposal. Our controllers are very smart ... They are going to do the math."^[12] However experienced air traffic controller retirements twice exceeded FAA forecasts (that had been revised upwards) during the following year.^[13][14]

She is scheduled to become president and Chief Executive Officer of the industry trade association, Aerospace Industries Association, on Nov. 12, 2007.^[15][16]

References

External links

• NATCA
• Blakey & Agnew
• Marion Blakey's official FAA bio
• Business week biography
• EAA biography