Elaine Chao's Senate Confirmation Hearing

Secretary of Transportation nominee Elaine Chao wants to speed up modernization of air traffic control technology but did not commit to support for pulling ATC into a nonprofit, self-funding organization run separately from the FAA.

During her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Chao said she wanted to create a dialogue around the ATC proposal, a version of which the Senate struck down last year. After joking that she'd like to be confirmed before deciding her position, Chao said President-elect Donald Trump's administration has not yet taken a position on it, adding she was aware of the concern from those in favor of it and from those who fear it would erode air safety. "This is an issue of great importance, a huge issue that needs to have national consensus," Chao said. "This will be one of the issues in which the White House has some say."

In her own testimony, Chao was eager to start those discussions in advance of the Sept. 30 deadline for FAA reauthorization, and regardless of ATC's organizational future, she wants to transition to NextGen ATC technology, which relies on satellites rather than radar. She has the same intentions for airport modernization, she said. "We need to have a greater emphasis on improving the rate of modernization. The rate of change and improvements is not what we would all like."

Chao also remained neutral when Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked about two current U.S. policies that some say create unfair competition for U.S. carriers: the decision not to reconsider the U.S.'s Open Skies agreements with the Gulf carriers and the recent Department of Transportation approval for Norwegian Air Shuttle to fly its Irish subsidiary to the U.S.. Chao merely replied that she "looked forward to working with" Klobuchar on the issues.

Republican Sen. John Thune—chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation—hoped the body would confirm Chao by Inauguration Day, and Chao seems unlikely to face any major opposition within the Senate. She won confirmations to serve as Labor secretary under George W. Bush four times and has yet to see an opposition vote recorded against her.