The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering airlines to certify their merit-based hiring practices as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against DEI programs.
Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy announced the new policy Friday, saying airlines that do not formally commit to merit-based hiring will be subject to an FAA investigation. President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to cancel DEI recruitment programs upon his return to the White House.
“When families board their plane, they should fly with confidence, knowing that the pilot flying is the best of the best. Americans don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender – they just care about being the most qualified man or woman for the job,” Duffy said in a statement.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do, and this common-sense measure will increase transparency between passengers and airlines,” he added.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announces that airlines must certify their merit-based hiring practices. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Trump’s FAA mocked the direction the agency took under the former president Joe Bidencalling the policies “absurd” and saying they were “wasting time renaming cockpits to flight decks.”
Trump took a systematic approach dismantling DEI programs across the federal government, signing two executive orders in his first days in office that directed agencies to identify and close DEI offices, end equity-focused grants and contracts, and abandon longstanding affirmative action requirements for federal contractors.
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President Donald Trump has signed executive orders cracking down on DEI programs. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The president targeted DEI specifically against the FAA following a tragic plane crash in the nation’s capital last year, which saw a jetliner collide with a U.S. military helicopter over the Potomac River.
“We must impose only the highest standards on those who work in our aviation system,” Trump said. “Only people with the highest aptitude – you have to be the most intellect – and psychologically superior people were allowed to become air traffic controllers.”
A helicopter flies over the crash site on the Potomac River after an American Airlines plane crashed on approach to Reagan National Airport January 30, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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“We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they talk, who they are. What matters is intellect, talent. The word ‘talent’. They have to be talented geniuses,” he continued. “We can’t let ordinary people do this work. They won’t be able to do it.”
Emma Colton of Fox News contributed to this report.
