On May 16, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill into law. This landmark legislation renews the aviation infrastructure and programs for the FAA for the next five years, introducing improvements to safety, as well as passenger and airline worker protection.
Key provisions of the bill include prohibiting airlines from charging fees for families to sit together and mandating 25-hour cockpit recording devices on all airplanes. Additionally, it increases the maximum civil penalties for airline consumer violations from $25,000 per violation to $75,000.
The law also enhances the travel experience by requiring airlines to automatically issue refunds if a passenger declines or does not respond to a rebooking request. It also adds five daily round-trip take-off and landing slots at Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, an expansion sought by Delta Air Lines.
The aviation safety and infrastructure funding has also received a substantial boost with over $105 billion allocated to the FAA and $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board for the fiscal years 2024 through 2028.
The law also addresses the shortage of air traffic controllers by mandating that the FAA hire and train additional controllers to close the existing gap of 3,000. In addition, the FAA will be required to hire more inspectors, engineers and technical experts to improve its oversight of aircraft manufacturers.
Safety enhancements are a major focus of the new legislation. The FAA must now install additional runway technology at medium and large-hub airports to reduce runway collisions and near-collisions. While the bill does not raise the mandatory pilot retirement age to 67, it does mandate the Department of Transportation to create a consumer dashboard displaying the minimum seat size for each U.S. airline.
The bill also allowed Boeing to continue producing its 767 freighter in the U.S. for an additional five years through 2033, exempting it from FAA’s fuel-efficiency rules that would have delayed planes from getting in the air.
