Faye Malarkey Black serves as President and CEO of the Regional Airline Association and has led the organization since February 2015. She leads an organization representing 17 North American regional airlines and 80 supply company partners. In the United States, RAA member airlines operate 40 percent of the flights, employ more than 59,000 individuals and provide the only source of scheduled, passenger air service to 64% of the nation’s airports. Ms. Black oversees the daily operations of the Association, develops and executes its policy and business objectives and serves as the primary spokesperson for the regional airline industry.

Since taking the helm, Ms. Black has strengthened the Association’s reputation on Capitol Hill while building awareness of the critical role regional airlines play in connecting the country. She has driven deeper collaborations with academic, industry and airport partners in pursuit of the highest levels of aviation safety. She led RAA’s successful transition from an association management firm to standalone association and brought the Association into stronger alignment with the values and mission of its membership. A lifelong advocate of small community air service, Ms. Black successfully defended against attempts to dismantle the Essential Air Service program and successfully lobbied for expansion of small community air service development programs. She played a vital role in securing important employee payroll supports to preserve the ready status of the regional airline workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership, the Association has taken an innovative, collaborative approach to attracting and supporting the next generation of aviation professionals with a variety of industrial initiatives and policy supports authorized by Congress. In 2019, she launched the RAA’s 501(c)3 charitable foundation, greatly expanding the Association’s ability to help the next generation of aviation professionals through scholarships.

Ms. Black has served the RAA since 1998 and was formerly Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. She previously held key positions for U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and supported voter targeting and communications in Pennsylvania during the 1994 and 1996 Democratic Coordinated Campaigns. She later served as an executive at Smithbucklin Corporation, where she advised emerging businesses in developing democracies on building effective advocacy programs and business support networks under a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) subcontract.

Ms. Black serves on the Board of Trustees of the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) and as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Commercial Airlines. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Working Group on Small Community Air Service in 2017 and served on the Board of Governors of the Aero Club of Washington from 2014 to 2019, co-chairing its charitable Foundation, which connects DC public and charter school students with aviation opportunities and scholarships.

Ms. Black holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.