We are pleased to note the news from Washington that the FAA has signed off on Boeing's plans to modify the battery system in the new 787 Dreamliner.
If all goes according to plan, the modifications to grounded aircraft can be made quickly, and the fleet will be back up and flying in a matter of weeks.
But there were offsetting disappointments from Washington last week, beginning with the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) move to delay a decision on allowing small pocket knives aboard commercial aircraft.
As we noted previously in this space, the decision to permit blades shorter than 6 centimeters seemed reasonable in light of an evolving international consensus and the TSA's efforts to move away from one-size-fits-all edicts to a risk-based approach to security.
We think flight attendants overreacted in their opposition to the plan, but we remain hopeful that the TSA will find a way to bring some flexibility to this issue.
We are also disappointed with the result of the FAA's rotating furloughs of air traffic controllers stemming from the budget sequester. We didn't expect it to be pretty, but we didn't expect as much shock, surprise, anger and finger-pointing as we have seen.
The plan to reduce the workforce by 10% through rotating furloughs was revealed more than two months ago.
Yet judging by the reaction from some quarters, the FAA may have failed to manage the expectations of airlines, consumers and members of Congress, some of whom claim the FAA is deliberately maximizing the impact for political purposes -- a claim we're not buying.