FAA ethics probe
- FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford faces an ethics probe over a delayed divestiture tied to Republic Airways. (x.com) - Reporting says Bedford converted about 16,000 private shares into 652,000 public shares, yielding over $25 million. (x.com) - Critics say the timing and disclosure of the sale raise conflict-of-interest questions and triggered watchdog attention. (x.com) (x.com)
Federal Aviation Administration chief Bryan Bedford is facing a new ethics probe over how long he held Republic Airways stock after taking office. (usnews.com) Three Democratic senators — Maria Cantwell, Tammy Duckworth and Ed Markey — asked the Transportation Department’s watchdog on April 23, 2026, to investigate whether Bedford violated his ethics agreement and misled Congress about the delay. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would respond directly to the senators. (usnews.com) Bedford was sworn in as Federal Aviation Administration administrator in July 2025 after leading Republic Airways for 26 years. In a June 2025 ethics agreement, he said he would divest his Republic equity within 90 days of confirmation, which set an October 7, 2025 deadline. (faa.gov) (notus.org) Lawmakers say he did not meet that deadline. Reuters reported he finished divesting in February 2026, months after Republic completed its November 25, 2025 merger with Mesa Air Group. (usnews.com) (investor.rjet.com) That merger turned Republic back into a publicly traded company under the ticker RJET. Republic said its legacy shareholders would own about 88% of the combined company after the deal closed. (investor.rjet.com) The scrutiny centers on whether Bedford benefited financially by waiting. Senate Democrats said recent securities filings showed each share of legacy Republic stock converted into 38.9933 shares of the new public company, turning Bedford’s 16,733 private shares into more than 652,470 public shares. (commerce.senate.gov) NOTUS reported this month that Bedford disclosed selling between $5 million and $26 million of airline stock in February 2026. At his confirmation, federal records valued his Republic holdings at between $6 million and $30 million. (notus.org) (usnews.com) The Office of Government Ethics had already flagged the issue in December 2025. NOTUS reported the office told Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz that Bedford had not timely complied with parts of his ethics agreement and still appeared to hold Republic stock. (notus.org) Cantwell, Duckworth and Markey first pressed the issue publicly in February, saying Bedford had sought a last-minute extension because he was too busy to comply, and that the Office of Government Ethics denied that request the same day. Their new request asks the inspector general to determine whether any disciplinary or corrective action is warranted. (commerce.senate.gov) (usnews.com) The case now turns on a narrow question with broad stakes for the aviation regulator: whether the head of the agency that oversees airlines complied with the conflict-of-interest rules he signed before taking the job. (notus.org) (usnews.com)
