White House withdraws former Delta pilot for international aviation post

Last year, the Air Line Pilots Association, a union which represents more than 79,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines, criticized Anderson's nomination, calling him unqualified to be ambassador. The group declined to comment on Thursday.

The group noted Anderson had supported the idea of raising the mandatory airline pilot retirement age. Last year, some U.S. lawmakers had urged the Trump administration to advocate at the Montreal-based U.N. civil aviation body for increasing retirement to 67 from 65.

In 2024, Congress rejected a push to raise the age to 67. International rules prevent airline pilots older than 65 from flying in most countries outside the U.S.

The U.S. ICAO post has been vacant since July 2022, when C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, the airline captain who safely landed an Airbus A320 on New York's Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of geese, stepped down after briefly serving in the post.

The ICAO has no policing powers but uses consensus to set standards on issues as varied as runways and seat belts among its 193 member countries. The agency was created after the United States invited more than 50 allies to agree in 1944 to a common air navigation system.

This month, Ukraine urged ICAO to ask its members to ban operations in Russian airspace after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was "becoming completely unsafe".

European and U.S. carriers do not fly over Russia due to war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Airlines from countries such as China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states continue to use Russian airspace.

The White House on Thursday withdrew its nomination of former Delta Air Lines pilot Jeffrey Anderson to serve as U.S. ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization after being opposed by a major airline pilots' union.