USCTA Alert
AAAE’s Todd Hauptli Highlights Ways to Enhance Aviation Safety
June 23, 2026
During a hearing before the Senate Aviation Subcommittee today that focused on close calls and improving aviation safety across the national airspace system, AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli highlighted the need to use Safety Management Systems (SMS) to prioritize safety investments, enhance worker training, and modernize air traffic control and airport investments to enhance aviation safety. He also urged lawmakers to reject a proposal that would prevent airports from using ADS-B to collect fees.
ROTOR/ALERT/PAPA
While much of the discussion today centered on competing requirements in Senate and House aviation safety bills relating to equipping aircraft operating in the NAS with ADS-B In, Hauptli spoke out against a provision in the House ALERT Act that would prevent airports from using ADS-B for fee collection purposes. AAAE, ACI-NA, and airports are continuing to urge Congress to reject the AOPA-backed Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act proposal, in part, because it would reduce the amount of funds that airports have to invest in operations and safety-related projects.
“We think it's an important technology tool for airports to be able to use that for fee collection, so that we can make sure that we've got appropriate safety projects going on at airports,” Hauptli said. “And we don't think that turning off that technology as some pilots have threatened to do in air to avoid having to pay those fees -- those small landing fees -- is good for safety.”
Hauptli’s comments come at time when lawmakers are trying to resolve their differences between the ALERT and the ROTOR Acts. The ALERT Act is a broader House-passed bill that addresses the recommendations that NTSB made in the aftermath of the DCA accident in 2025. The ROTOR Act is narrower Senate-passed bill that would require aircraft in controlled airspace to be equipped with ADS-B In, among other proposed changes.
A video clip of Hauptli's comments may be be viewed here.
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Airport Infrastructure Funding
Hauptli described the complexity of airport operations and the need to evaluate and prioritize safety investments to effectively target limited funds toward their highest and best purposes. He also emphasized how airports have a shrinking pool of resources to pay for a growing list of safety and other critical infrastructure projects. He called on lawmakers to extend the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act (IIJA), which is expiring at the end of Fiscal Year 2026 and creating a $4 billion annual funding gap for airports, and to make other changes to increase airport infrastructure investment.
“Current airport resource limitations are real and growing,” Hauptli said. “AIP is oversubscribed by a factor of three. PFCs have not been adjusted by for more than a quarter of a century. Billions of dollars in annual IIJA investments are expiring, and some in Congress are contemplating limits on the ability of airport operators to utilize technology to charge users for their use of airport facilities.”
A video clip of Hauptli's comments may be be viewed here.
Safety Management Systems
Hauptli and Airlines for America President and CEO John Sununu discussed the importance of SMS. Hauptli old lawmakers that the airports, airlines, tenants, and the FAA are using SMS to identify local risks and to tailor mitigation to unique airport-specific circumstances. However, he called for strengthening FAA and industry coordination and pointed out that airports need access to more information from their aviation partners.
“Airports aren't getting all the information we would like to get and part of that reason is because airports are subject to open record laws and FOIA requests,” Hauptli said. “And so there is a reluctance from time to time from other parties to share that important safety information with our members, for fear that it will be published.”
AAAE is urging Congress to protect safety data that FAA and other stakeholders share with airports from public disclosure under open records laws. Hauptli indicated in his written testimony that “allowing data sharing among stakeholders without fear of retribution is critical to ensuring the highest levels of safety.”
Driver Training
Human factors and training were also a focus of the hearing today. Senate Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS) described a bill that he is crafting that “would focus on improving airport driver training and supporting technologies to reduce runway incursions and other safety surface safety incidents.” His proposal calls for the FAA to establish a task to evaluate driver training and make recommendations to improve consistency.
Hauptli noted the role that AAAE plays in helping airports train workers for driving on movement areas and non-movement areas. He told lawmakers that the association has delivered “more than 67,000 movement area driver training courses and nearly 430,000 non-movement driver training courses at 325 airports, and we are deploying AI capabilities to provide enhanced recurrent training that recognizes individual learning habits and adjusts accordingly to promote improved learning retention and training results.”
Contract Tower Upgrades
Hauptli also commended Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) for introducing S. 3929, the Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act. His bill authorizes funds to pay for the acquisition, installation, and operation of Airborne Position Reference Tools at contract towers that lack Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems (APRT).
In an exchange with Chairman Moran on near misses between regional jets and GA aircraft, Hauptli said that deploying APRT in contract towers is “something important that Congress can and should do to help some of these airports….”
Related Information
