The Senate greenlit a bill that reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration and provide $105 billion to the agency over the next five years, implementing several new aviation safety standards and consumer protections the FAA and commercial airlines will have to follow.
The Senate passed the legislation Thursday. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Senate passed the bill, known as the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, in a 88-4 vote, doing so one day before the current reauthorization act expires.
The bill mandates airlines refund customers for domestic flight delays longer than three hours and international delays longer than six, or offer customers five-year credit.
The bill also provides $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board for airport modernization, technology programs and safety, codifying multiple airlines refund requirements to passengers, directing a hiring increase of air traffic controllers and bolstering protections for disabled passengers.
The FAA will be required to install new technology designed to help air traffic controllers better monitor passenger jets on runways, according to the legislation, which also requires the agency to hire the maximum number of air traffic controllers at its training academy.
The requirements are designed to address a nationwide shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers and all-time high overtime work at the FAA linked to controller fatigue and absences.
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- That’s how many runway incursions, the most serious types of close calls, the FAA identified in the fiscal year ending Oct. 1, 2023, the Associated Press reported, adding that independent estimates suggest the number provided by the agency grossly understate such incidents.
The House overwhelmingly passed the legislation and voted Wednesday to pass a one-week extension for it that would have changed its deadline to reauthorize the FAA from Friday to May 17. The bill faced opposition from lawmakers seeking to add more than 200 amendments, some of which were related to aviation standards and others that were essentially tack-on policies unrelated to the FAA and consumers, The New York Times reported. One contentious amendment sought to add five additional daily, long-distance round-trip flights at Reagan Washington National Airport so as to make downtown Washington D.C. more accessible.
Airline Close Calls Happen Far More Often Than Previously Known (The New York Times)