This has been an exciting week in the aviation and transportation policy world, with Pete Buttigieg being named as President-Elect Biden’s Secretary of Transportation and the increased prospect of new funding support for airlines as part of the larger stimulus package working its way through Congress. With these significant events alongside the rest of the issues facing the airline industry today, there's no more perfect guest to help parse the ongoing changes to the industry than Faye Malarkey Black, President and CEO of the Regional Airline Association, or more commonly known as RAA.
As President and CEO of RAA, Faye leads an industry trade organization representing 17 North American regional airlines and 150 associate members. In the United States, RAA member airlines operate 40 percent of the flights, at the end of 2019 employed about 70,000 individuals, and provide the only source of scheduled passenger air service to two-thirds of the nation’s airports. Ms. Black oversees the daily operations of the Association, develops and executes its policy and business objectives, and serves as the primary spokesperson for the regional airline industry.
With more than two decades of experience in policy, strategic leadership, business development, and management, Ms. Black has served the RAA since 1998 and was formerly senior vice president - government affairs. Ms. Black began her career in Pennsylvania, holding key positions in voter targeting and communications in 1994 and 1996 coordinated state campaigns. She formerly worked for U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and later served as an executive at Smithbucklin Corporation, providing strategic advice to trade associations seeking to build effective advocacy programs and helping emerging businesses in developing democracies develop business support networks under a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) subcontract. Ms. Black holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and is based in Washington DC.
More information about the Regional Airline Association can be found by visiting the Association's website at http://www.raa.org and the organization posts regular news and policy updates on Twitter at @RAATweets.