By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who passed up a chance to run for the U.S. Senate in 2026, will lead the trade group Airlines for America, the group said Monday.

The influential airline lobbying group includes American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, FedEx, and Southwest Airlines among its members. Sununu, a Republican, will take over on September 9, replacing Nick Calio, a former senior aide to President George W. Bush who headed the group since 2011.

Airlines aggressively lobbied this year for Congress to spend billions of dollars to modernize the United States’ aging air traffic control system, warning it is “failing Americans.”

The Federal Aviation Administration, which is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of

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