WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered US airlines to institute merit-based hiring processes — on pain of federal investigation, The Post can exclusively reveal.
Under a new so-called “Operations Specification,” each airline will have to certify that its pilots are selected based only on experience and aptitude.
“When families board their aircraft, they should fly with confidence knowing the pilot behind the controls is the best of the best. The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender — they just care that they are most qualified man or woman for the job,” said Duffy in a statement.
“Safety drives everything we do, and this commonsense measure will increase transparency between passengers and airlines.”
The Department of Transportation has slashed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and funding touted by Duffy’s predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, since the former Wisconsin congressman took over last year.
Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ordered the DOT to cut more than $943 million in what it called wasteful grants to four Democrat-led states — California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota — mostly related to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
Buttigieg touted having shelled out more than $80 billion over his four years in office for DEI-related initiatives.
The DOT noted that the merit-based pilot hiring action stemmed from President Trump’s executive orders to end discrimination, restore merit-based opportunity and keep Americans safe while flying.
The Federal Aviation Administration, one of the DOT’s subagencies, has since committed to raising training standards for pilots and eliminating DEI offices and contracts — after a series of lawsuits have been filed alleging air traffic controllers have been turned away on the basis of race.
“At the FAA, the safety of passengers is our number one priority,” Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “It is a bare minimum expectation for airlines to hire the most qualified individual when making someone responsible for hundreds of lives at a time.”
“Someone’s race, sex, or creed, has nothing to do with their ability to fly and land aircraft safely,” Bedford added.
In a Tuesday briefing, Bedford explained how Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill had helped in that effort by providing $12.5 billion to fix the archaic and overworked US air traffic control system in response to massive flight delays.
So far, that’s resulted in 40% of copper wires being torn out and replaced with new cables.
The installation of 612 new radar systems is also expected by June 2028.
