Marion Blakey

Marion Blakey, chief executive of the Federal Aviation Administration, was Tuesday's guest. Here are excerpts from her remarks:

"A lot of this is weather-related. With the projections they have for weather for the rest of the summer, it is going to be ... rough.... What we don't have [are] enough airspace, enough pavement at critical airports to ... clear [delays] quickly when you begin to back up."

"I have worried all along that the next major collision will be on the ground. Some of the things the [National Transportation Safety Board] would like to have done are very difficult to do. You can call for things in the ideal world without regard to whether the technologies exist to do it and whether the costs are sustainable."

"I would be very surprised to see [the controllers] move in that direction."

"We have preserved the base pay for our existing controller workforce - and their benefits. We are looking to establish a more marketplace-based pay [scale] for the next group of controllers [to be hired.]"