The United State House and Senate negotiators have reached a landmark deal to boost air traffic controller staffing and increase funding to avert runway close-call incidents. However, the deal concluded will not increase the airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65 at present.
In July, the US House of Representatives had voted 351-69 on a historic bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that would have also raised the pilot retirement age to 67. However, the Senate Commerce Committee had voted to reject the retirement age increase in February. International rules would have prevented airline pilots older than 65 years from flying in most countries outside the United States.
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Under the new deal, the Congress has temporarily extended authorization for the FAA through May 10 as it works on a new $105 billion, 5-year deal. The Senate is set to vote this week on the more than 1,000-page proposal.
The bill also prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to sit together and requires airlines to accept vouchers and credits for at least five years. The bill also requires airplanes to be equipped with 25-hour cockpit recording devices and directs the FAA to deploy advanced airport surface technology to help prevent collisions and increase safety.
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In a joint statement, Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Republican, Ted Cruz, House Transportation Committee chair Sam Graves and the committee’s top Democrat, Rick Larsenand said that “now more than ever, the FAA needs strong and decisive direction from Congress to ensure America’s aviation system maintains its gold standard.”
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The proposal also raises maximum civil penalties for airline consumer violations from $25,000 per violation to $75,000 and aims to address a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers by directing the FAA to implement improved staffing standards and to hire more inspectors, engineers and technical specialists.
