Sean Duffy Confirmed As Trump Transportation Secretary

We now officially have a new Transportation Secretary in the United States, and I imagine this will have some major implications for the airline industry…

New Department of Transportation head confirmed

Sean Duffy has just been sworn in as Transportation Secretary, following a 77-22 vote during his Senate confirmation hearing, so he’ll now be leading the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Until recently, the 53-year-old was the co-host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business, as well as a Fox News contributor. Prior to that, he served as a Congressman from Wisconsin from 2011 until 2019, and before that, he served as District Attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin. He first gained fame as a cast member of “The Real World.”

When President-Elect (at the time) Donald Trump nominated Duffy in mid-November 2024, the priority he put forward specifically for the airline industry is to eliminate DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers:

I am pleased to announce that former Congressman Sean Duffy, from the Great State of Wisconsin, is nominated to serve as the Secretary of Transportation. Sean has been a tremendous and well-liked public servant, starting his career as a District Attorney for Ashland, Wisconsin, and later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District.

During his time in Congress, Sean was a respected voice and communicator in the Republican Conference, advocating for Fiscal Responsibility, Economic Growth, and Rural Development. Admired across the aisle, Sean worked with Democrats to clear extensive Legislative hurdles to build the largest road and bridge project in Minnesota History.

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, Sean played a key role in shaping and strengthening Economic policies, and ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Government programs. Sean’s leadership extended to championing the needs of families, farmers, and small businesses, especially in rural communities.

He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports. He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.

The husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on Fox News, and the father of nine incredible children, Sean knows how important it is for families to be able to travel safely, and with peace of mind.

Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has built over many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and fulfill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!

Following his confirmation, Duffy has promised to focus on removing government overreach and lowering costs:

I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me by President Trump to lead this important Department and for the Senate in swiftly confirming my nomination. We are already hard at work executing the President’s vision to usher in a golden age of transportation by taking immediate action to remove government overreach and lower costs for hardworking Americans.

His first agenda item has been to reduce fuel standards that he claims have driven up the cost of cars.

What will happen at the DOT under Duffy?

Obviously the country is very divided. We all have our own beliefs, but let me try to share my take on this in a respectful and reasonably balanced way, and I’d ask others to do the same.

First of all, it’s important to acknowledge that the job of the Transportation Secretary goes way beyond just the airline and aviation industry, but of course that’s what I’m heavily focused on, given that it’s what the blog is about (so I won’t be talking about other vital infrastructure investments, which I think are also incredibly important).

Under the first Trump administration, we had Elaine Chao as Transportation Secretary. If you ask me, Chao more or less maintained the status quo, especially with airlines, and didn’t really rock the boat. I’d describe the DOT as being pretty hands off under her leadership. That’s not necessarily good or bad, but I doubt most people would disagree.

Then under the Biden administration, we had Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary. Personally I’m a huge Buttigieg fan — not everyone agrees on his legacy at the DOT, though I think we can all agree that he most definitely didn’t take a hands off approach with airlines.

Whether we’re talking about airline partnerships, or mergers, or frequent flyer programs, or holding airlines accountable for meltdowns, the DOT took a much more active role under Buttigieg. Of course we also saw our aviation sector struggle with all kinds of staff shortages. Fortunately hiring of air traffic controllers has been ramped up considerably, but there’s not much instant gratification there, as the training process takes years.

So, what are my expectations with Duffy leading the DOT?

• As much as Trump is an airline guy (in the sense that he briefly had an airline, and has also chimed in a lot on the industry), I don’t think aviation is going to be one of his major priorities
• We still need a massive overhaul of our air traffic control system, so it doesn’t particularly instill confidence that Trump seemingly just focuses on DEI, rather than otherwise rebuilding our system
• I’d expect the Trump administration to generally intervene less when it comes to consolidation, frequent flyer programs, etc., for better or worse

Perhaps one interesting thing to consider is what airline executives have had to say. For example, Delta CEO Ed Bastian has commented on the “overreach [the] industry has experienced over the past four years,” referring to regulators. So yeah, if airline CEOs are happy about a certain person leading the DOT, I’ll leave it to everyone to decide for themselves whether that’s good or bad for consumers.

The good news is that for the most part, the DOT has historically made fairly bipartisan decisions, which is to say that I haven’t noticed any extreme differences toward airlines based on the political party. For example, going back many years, both the the Obama and Trump administrations weren’t onboard with the rhetoric of the “Open Skies.”

We’ve certainly seen airlines have proposals rejected under one administration, and then see them try their luck again with a new administration, so that’s certainly possible. But I can’t say I’ve noticed a huge systematic difference at the DOT depending on the party.

I could certainly see more airline consolidation activity under Trump than under Biden, but that goes beyond the Department of Transportation.

Bottom line

Sean Duffy has been confirmed as the new Transportation Secretary, replacing Pete Buttigieg. He’s a former Fox News star, Congressman, District Attorney, and reality TV star.

Historically the DOT hasn’t been swayed too much by politics, though I would expect that there will be some significant changes compared to the Biden administration, as the most recent DOT took one of the most active roles that we’ve ever seen.

What do you make of Sean Duffy being confirmed as Transportation Secretary?