NBAA Salutes FAA’s Teri Bristol for Leadership in Public Service

National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen today commended Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Organization Chief Operating Officer Teri Bristol on her decades of public service, including a federal career that began in 1992 with the Department of Transportation. She will be retiring at the end of February. 

“Teri has been a thoughtful, dedicated professional who has moved our industry forward,” Bolen said. “We are grateful for her leadership and we wish her all the best.”

The FAA’s website notes that Bristol is responsible “for ensuring safe, efficient and secure air traffic services for approximately 50,000 aircraft operating over nearly 30 million square miles every day.”

As a champion for continued development of the nation’s Next Generation (“NextGen”) Aviation System, Bristol has led the FAA’s NextGen Executive Board and NextGen Advisory Committee. Bristol has also been an advocate and role model for women, having been the first woman to hold her current leadership position, and the first woman to hold her previous three positions. She has been instrumental in FAA efforts to recruit and retain women and minorities to key positions in air traffic control, and across the agency.   

In a 2020 interview for NBAA’s Business Aviation Insider magazine, Bristol described how business aviation representatives have long provided valuable input toward the agency’s daily management of the National Airspace System, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we understand air traffic demand forecasts for high-volume business aviation locations – such as Teterboro [NJ], Southern California and South Florida – that can be very helpful, as business aircraft pilots can provide flexibility in climb, routings and altitude adjustments,” she said,