Trump nominating former Delta pilot to international aviation post

President Donald Trump is nominating former Delta Air Lines pilot Jeffrey Anderson to serve as U.S. ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the White House said on Thursday, in a move opposed by a major airline pilots' union.

The nomination comes as some U.S. senators want the Trump administration to advocate at the Montreal-based U.N. civil aviation body for raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 65 to 67.

The United States has not had a permanent ambassador at ICAO since July 2022 when C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed an Airbus A320 on New York's Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of geese, stepped down.

The Air Line Pilots Association, a union which represents more than 79,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines, criticized Trump's nomination of Anderson, calling him unqualified.

"It appears that Mr. Anderson’s only real qualification for the post is his support of a position – raising the mandatory pilot retirement age – that would leave the United States as an outlier in the global aviation space and create chaos on pilot labor, and international and domestic flight operations," the union said in a statement.

Last year, Congress rejected a push to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. International rules prevent airline pilots older than 65 from flying in most countries outside the U.S.

The White House defended Anderson's nomination in a statement, noting he was a decorated veteran naval aviator with decades of experience as a pilot for Delta and a negotiator for ALPA "who will deliver on President Trump’s vision of aviation safety for the American people at ICAO."

ICAO plays a key role in global aviation safety.

While it has no policing powers, ICAO uses consensus to set standards on everything from runways to seat belts. The agency was created after the United States invited more than 50 allies to agree in 1944 to a common air navigation system.

The 193-nation body will hold its triennial assembly from September 23 to October 3 this year.