Washington DC - President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the US air safety agency pledged Wednesday to upgrade the nation's aging air traffic system and address staffing shortfalls.

During the opening of his confirmation hearing to lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Bryan Bedford referenced recent US aviation incidents, including a January crash at Washington's Reagan National Airport in which 67 people died, the first major US commercial crash since 2009.

"I can assure all of you that, if confirmed, my top priority will be public safety and in restoring the public's confidence in flying," Bedford told the Senate commerce committee.

Bedford, the CEO of regional airline Republic Airways, strongly endorsed an ambitious overhaul of the US air traffic control system, championed by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, which has been estimated to cost more than $30 billion.

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The push comes on the heels of troubling incidents at Newark Airport in New Jersey when air traffic controllers lost contact with planes on radar or by radio for 90 seconds because of telecommunications outages.

The aviation industry has rallied behind Duffy's plan, with backers calling it a long-overdue update of equipment installed decades ago.

While Wednesday's hearing did not feature the sort of hostile exchanges seen at some confirmation hearings, multiple Democratic lawmakers probed Bedford's effort at Republic in 2022 to streamline pilot training requirements amid staff shortages connected to surging travel demand following Covid-19 lockdowns.

The FAA turned down a Republic request to allow graduates of the company's own flight academy to become co-pilots with just 750 flight hours rather than the 1,500 hours required under 2010 congressional legislation.

"This is a perilous moment for aviation safety," said Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth as she urged preservation of the 1,500-hour rule. "Well-trained pilots are our last line of defense in incident after incident."

In response, Bedford told Duckworth that their positions were not far apart, saying, "We both want to have the safest pilots operate our aircraft."

But Bedford appeared to open the door to potentially easing the requirement, saying, "I don't believe safety is static."