The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the next five years on Thursday, sending the bill to the Senate with a little over two months until the current authorization expires.
The House’s version of the legislation includes a number of changes that could impact air travel for passengers. It would address an air traffic controller shortage, provide funding to upgrade, invests in the agency’s technology and more. The bill also reauthorizes the National Transportation Safety Board through fiscal year 2028.
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The final tally was 351 to 69.
Lawmakers overcame a number of potential obstacles Wednesday evening after rejecting a bipartisan proposal 229 to 205 to add seven new round-trip flights to Reagan National Airport.
“The defeat of this amendment is a win for our region, for my constituents, and for all passengers who value safe and efficient operations at DCA,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA.) said in a statement Wednesday.
The House also approved a bipartisan amendment that would keep current standards for pilot training the same after blocking a proposed change floated by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The bill also raises the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67, which is intended to expand the pilot work force. However, there are opponents in both parties and the Biden Administration argue the change could impact safety and could cause headaches because pilots older than 65 are unable to fly internationally.
“The Europeans studied it and said you shouldn’t change the retirement age,” said Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association on a recent podcast. “There has been no study here, no data to support raising the retirement age here. So, factually, those that would like to raise the age, there hasn’t been any homework done.”
The FAA reauthorization comes as travel has picked up steadily every year since the pandemic, a strained and shrinking air traffic controller workforce and amid thousands of recent flight delays or cancellations due to extreme weather.
“This bill makes important progress that will enable the FAA to hire and train more controllers, to improve air traffic control technology and to strengthen the pipeline of trained workers, including pilots and aviation maintenance technicians," said Amy Lawrence, a spokesperson with American Airlines. "We look forward to working with the U.S. Senate to complete the process as quickly as possible.”
The Senate Commerce Committee intends to consider their version of the reauthorization in the weeks to come then the House and Senate must align their proposals by the end of September when the current authorization expires.
“This legislation addresses many of the concerns we hear from the flying public every day,” said Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), chairman of the Transportation Committee’s aviation subcommittee.
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The Senate’s bill currently includes several consumer protections that airlines are lobbying against claiming they will make air travel more expensive and are too difficult to enforce. Those provisions are likely to face opposition from Republicans in the House who have advocated for more deregulation of airlines.