David Heffernan

Practice Areas

Member; chair, Transportation & Trade Practice Group; co-chair, Aviation Practice. Mr. Heffernan represents major U.S. and foreign airlines (passenger and cargo, scheduled and charter); leading aviation trade associations; aircraft, engine, and equipment manufacturers; aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) businesses; air travel distribution companies; and air/ground express delivery and logistics companies. He also advises non-aviation businesses, including banks, private equity investment funds, other aviation industry investors, and corporate owners and users of aircraft.

Mr. Heffernan advises clients regarding regulatory/compliance matters, aviation-related corporate transactions and litigation matters, applications for economic/operating and code-share authority, and antitrust immunity, as well as on U.S. laws, regulations, and policies regarding: airline mergers, complex alliances and joint ventures, distribution issues, taxes/fees, airport access issues, including slot regulation, advertising and consumer protection, aviation security and competition policy, uncrewed aircraft (drones) and advanced air mobility (AAM)/air taxi service issues. He also advises clients on matters involving all U.S. government agencies that regulate the aviation industry, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (and its component agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection), and the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, Mr. Heffernan advises clients on legislative and governmental policy developments affecting the aviation industry, including major aviation-focused legislation such as FAA reauthorization. He also advises clients on international traffic rights, international market access issues, and bilateral and multilateral aviation treaties and intergovernmental agreements.

Publications

Forbes.com, Law360.com, Aviation Daily contributor; formerly Editor-in-Chief, ABA's Air & Space Lawyer journal; co-editor, "Aviation Regulation in the United States" (ABA, 2014); co-editor, “Compendium on Air Law in Europe” (Heymanns, 2013); co-author of chapter on the International Civil Aviation Organization in “Global Governance: Goals and Lessons for Artificial Intelligence” (2024).