The head of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Organization, Tim Arel, will retire early as part of the Department of Transportation’s second round of buyouts.
Arel, who has been with the agency for four decades, had planned to retire at the end of 2025, but will now leave in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition, the FAA told CBS News in a statement.
As the Air Traffic Organization’s chief operating officer, Arel is in charge of ensuring the safety of the approximately 50,000 aircraft that operate every day.
However, following the fatal midair collision in January, a series of concerning close calls, and a fist fight in the tower between employees, the FAA appointed a new management team to the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport, CBS News has confirmed. This move resulted in the replacement of three senior managers.
“We brought in a new DCA management team to ensure strong support for the workforce,” the FAA stated. “Their priorities will include: reviewing safety data trends while preventing/correcting drift, performance management and ensuring facility training is robust and consistently meets national standards.”
According to CBS News sources, the management change is part of a series of changes announced by the FAA at Reagan National Airport last week. As part of its response to the Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people, the new measures included increasing the Operational Supervisor staffing from six to eight and providing more support to its air traffic control team.
The announcement came just days after a fight broke out between employees in the air traffic control tower. Officers arrested Damon Gaines, 39, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police. Gaines was not one of the managers who was replaced, CBS News confirmed.
In addition to serious safety concerns about the tower fight and the mid-air collision, two sources specifically mentioned the near miss between a Delta Air Lines flight departing Reagan National and an Air Force jet at the end of March.
Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, criticized ATC for the incident during a hearing last week on Boeing and air travel safety.
“The air traffic control center that oversees airspace around Washington, D.C., informed DCA of the flyover. Cruz stated that this should have resulted in a halt in traffic. “This serious communication breakdown is just the latest in a string of missteps that signal the air traffic organization is under extreme stress.”
The FAA stated that it is investigating the incident.