Southern Region Regional Administrator

Michael O'Harra was appointed Regional Administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Southern Region in January 2018. Based in Atlanta, He is the senior agency official within the eight-state region including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  

He is the FAA Administrator's primary representative to elected officials, civic groups, aviation industry, educational institutions, and other Federal agencies in the region. He is responsible for outreach activities to stakeholders and local communities regarding environmental impacts and noise management issues, as well as information sharing on initiatives such as airspace and procedure modernization, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) integration, commercial space activities, and other critical agency initiatives.

Mr. O'Harra previously served as the Deputy Regional Administrator for the FAA Southwest Region from 2008 until 2018, which included serving as the Regional Emergency Transportation Coordinator (RETCO) to ensure effective transportation emergency planning and response for incidents of national significance for the Department of Transportation's Region 6.

He has over 30 years of experience in the aviation and space industry, which includes leadership on major capacity and policy initiatives for the FAA, and previous positions in private industry. Mr. O'Harra graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.