Michael Huerta: COVID-19 and Airline Bankruptcy?

In this episode, former Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael Huerta talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about the possibilities of the airline industry facing bankruptcy due to COVID-19.

About Michael Huerta:

Michael Huerta served as a former administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration between 2013 and 2018. He was nominated by former President Barack Obama and was the longest tenured Administrator in the agency’s history. Before being named Administrator, Mr. Huerta served as Acting Administrator of the FAA from 2011 to 2013 and FAA Deputy Administrator from 2010 to 2011. Mr. Huerta currently serves as a transportation industry consultant, including acting as a Senior Advisor to Macquarie Capital. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Delta Air Lines, Inc. Mr. Huerta is a UC Riverside Alumnus (‘78) and serves as an Advisory Board Member for the UC Riverside School of Public Policy.

Learn more about Michael Huerta via https://spp.ucr.edu/about/people#advisory_board

Podcast Highlights:

“I don’t think you can make a general statement about how the industry overall will do. It’s very airline specific and a lot of it’s going to be driven by the markets they are in and their own financial position going into that.”

-       Michael Huerta on the topic of effects on the airline industry following COVID-19 .

“The airline needs to be looking at this for the long term and I think that as we come out of a crisis like this, the public will remember who were the good operators, who were the corporate citizens that really worked with people”

-       Michael Huerta on the topic of airline companies decisions to refund flight tickets due to the flight restrictions.

“As we came through 9/11, it became very clear what we were responding to, what we were fighting. And with COVID-19, there is still a lot of debate about what the enemy is and what we know about that enemy and how we respond to that”

-       Michael Huerta on the topic of the comparison between COVID-19 and 9/11 in relation to the airline industry.

Guest:

Michael Huerta (UCR alum and School of Public Policy Advisory Board Member)

Interviewers:

Maddie Bunting (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)

Sam Roberts (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)

Music by:

Samuel Roberts (UCR Public Policy ‘20)

This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: https://spp.ucr.edu/

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