Airlines have been successfully lobbying the federal government to roll back what they view as burdensome regulations and will likely continue that winning streak under the second Trump administration.
Questions about the fate of airline regulations were raised earlier this month when the Department of Transportation struck a Biden-era reimbursement policy that would have compensated passengers if their flights were delayed or canceled in circumstances within the airline’s control. Such cases include mechanical problems, crew shortages, or system outages.
Recommended Stories
The proposed rule would have required airlines to pay passengers between $200 and $775 in refunds and mandate free meals, lodging, or flight rebookings for impacted travelers.
TRUMP SAYS FORMER FBI DIRECTOR WRAY HAS ‘EXPLAINING TO DO’ AFTER NEW JAN. 6 REPORT
Airlines for America, the industry trade group that represents 10 major domestic airlines, argued mandatory compensation would have led to higher ticket prices, passing the operating costs onto consumers. The plan would also have caused more flight cancellations, the group said, because airlines would be incentivized to cut flights if the reimbursement costs were too great.
A separate policy that the Biden administration finalized requires full, automatic refunds for canceled or significantly changed flights if the affected passenger does not accept an alternative flight or travel credit.
That regulation, among others, may also be on the chopping block if the Trump administration gets its way.
Evan Oshan, a Seattle-based personal injury lawyer specialized in lawsuits involving aviation accidents, is concerned these regulatory rollbacks may lead to weakened aviation safety.
“Airlines want to police themselves instead of allowing federal oversight,” he told the Washington Examiner. “By policing themselves, it creates inherent problems.”
This could translate to longer intervals between mandatory safety checks or lower staffing levels in the Federal Aviation Administration, Oshan said.
Although it’s not a safety issue, a Biden-era policy for ancillary fees was challenged by airline lobbyists in court.
Airlines for America and others argued that by requiring airlines to disclose service fees upfront before a ticket purchase, the Department of Transportation exceeded its statutory authority and violated federal law.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ultimately sided with the airlines, ruling that the imposed costs would cause irreparable harm to the petitioners. The court granted their requested stay and later remanded the ancillary fees disclosure rule back to the Department of Transportation for further review.
Oshan said the Fifth Circuit ruling effectively gave the airlines “carte blanche,” further emboldening them to challenge other consumer protections.
In a public comment to the Department of Transportation in May, Airlines for America wanted the Biden-era rules on family seating and ancillary fees to be deregulated on top of the flight disruption reimbursement policies. Under the family seating rule, airlines would have been prohibited from charging extra fees for parents wishing to sit next to their young children.
The airline lobbyist made the case that the proposals touted by former President Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg flouted Congress’s Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which replaced government control over the domestic airline industry with free market competition. The group said such proposals should be aligned with federal law.
“The DOT should entirely abandon the DOT’s 2024 proposal to impose reimbursement and compensation requirements for flight disruptions and, rather, follow Congress’s explicit and limited instruction to rely on airlines to establish reimbursement policies,” Airlines for America wrote.
The move to withdraw the rulemaking for mandatory compensation to airline passengers is one example of the Department of Transportation’s aggressive deregulation agenda. According to an analysis by American Action Forum, the department has claimed the most deregulatory actions with 285 items this spring.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN THE US: A TIMELINE OF KEY INCIDENTS
However, the Department of Transportation is not quite on pace with adhering to President Donald Trump’s executive order that dictates the elimination of 10 previous regulations for every new regulation issued. It currently sits at a 7:1 ratio, with 285 deregulatory actions compared to 40 regulatory actions.
“We urge the DOT to aggressively implement President Trump’s deregulatory agenda in the spirit of Congress’s deregulatory mandate for airlines,” Airlines for America said. “Now is the time for the re-deregulation of the airline industry that can unleash American prosperity and the new ‘golden age’ of air travel in America.”
Airlines for America was the leading lobbyist last year, with nearly $5.7 million spent on airlines out of the total $29.1 million spent by 27 groups. Over $16.4 million has been spent on airlines so far this year, with Airlines for America contributing almost $2.9 million.
“When airlines start spending so much money and more money on lobbying than improving safety, passengers become almost like guinea pigs for deregulation,” Oshan said.
Notably, Airlines for America is now led by former Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH). But he’s not the only Trump ally with ties to the airline industry.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously worked at BGR Group as a lobbyist and served as a member of the firm’s advisory board before transitioning to the Trump administration. He also represented Partnership for Open Skies, a major U.S. airline coalition including United, American, and Delta that focused on getting domestic carriers access to foreign markets.
TRUMP ABANDONS NEW AIRLINE REIMBURSEMENT REGULATION TOUTED BY BIDEN AND BUTTIGIEG
Oshan believes Duffy’s federal role enables airline lobbyists, including his former employer, to exert their influence over which regulations get cut, and he suspects more aviation accidents will happen in the coming years because airlines are prioritizing profit over safety.
“We’re seeing the fastest regulatory rollback in aviation history,” the lawyer said. “The airlines are getting exactly what they paid for – a transportation secretary that used to work for them, and it’s an administration that sees regulations as obstacles, not safety measures.”