Happy New Year! Thank you for inviting me to speak to such a distinguished aviation audience.  I’ve been at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for about 2 ½ years. Coming into this job, I had a degree of comfort because during my years at the Postal Service, I thought I had acquired a good understanding of aviation. After all, the modern aviation industry was jump-started by the Post Office Department and the need for speedy movement of mail and packages by air. The revenue from mail funded the establishment of air service across the country.