Statement on the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry

Today I am, in conjunction with the bipartisan congressional leadership, releasing the names of the members of the National Commission to Ensure a Strong and Competitive Airline Industry.

This Commission will enable us to start planning the revitalization of one of our country's most important industries, one of our most important exporters, one of our Nation's most important employers: the aircraft manufacturers and carriers that have been the pride of the United States and the world's leaders since the beginning of aviation. I pledge that this Commission will have the full resources of every Agency of the Federal Government at its disposal.

Each of the individuals on this Commission brings a strong record of accomplishment in his or her field, together with a keen sense of the importance of aviation in a global economy. Each of them has demonstrated the ability to look toward the future and the energy and intellect to shape the course of the current airline debate.

I would like to thank the bipartisan congressional leadership for their support and leadership in creating this Commission and in selecting persons of such high caliber.

The Chairman of the Commission will be an old friend and former colleague of mine, former Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles. Perhaps no other Governor in the past decade devoted more thought and attention to the global nature of the challenges facing his State. Governor Baliles always recognized that the nature of competition had changed fundamentally and that any strategy to shape that change must be rooted in a vision extending beyond our borders. He recognized that aviation is the lifeblood of commerce in a global economy and made it an important part of his State's competitiveness strategy. That is what we must do now at a national level.

As the legislation creating this Commission was debated in Congress, it became clear that there are many different explanations of why our airline carriers and manufacturers are facing such financial difficulty. And those issues will be debated. But it will be valuable for the Commission to take a step back from that debate and examine the context in which the aviation industry operates. To the extent the Commission can help us understand how we got to where we are today and provide a vision for a competitive future, it will have rendered an invaluable service. I look forward to receiving their report and pledge the full cooperation of my entire administration in their work.