|
The 387-26 vote sends the $105 billion, five-year measure to
reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to
President Joe Biden for his signature by Friday after the Senate
approved it last week.
The bill prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to
sit together and requires them to accept vouchers and credits
issued in lieu of refunds for at least five years.
It also adds five daily round-trip slots at busy Washington
National Airport, something that Delta Air Lines had heavily
lobbied for.
In safety terms, it requires airplanes to be equipped with
25-hour cockpit recording devices, up from the current two
hours, and directs the FAA to deploy advanced airport surface
technology to help prevent collisions.
Efforts to boost aviation safety in the United States have taken
on new urgency after a series of near-miss incidents, as well as
January's door plug mid-air emergency on an Alaska Airlines
Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight.
The bill also will allow Boeing to continue to produce its 767
freighter for another five years through 2033 in the United
States, giving it an exemption from efficiency rules taking
effect in 2028.
The bill 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.
The bill does not raise the mandatory pilot retirement age to 67
as House lawmakers had sought to do last year and retains pilot
training requirements.
Congress will not establish minimum seat size requirements,
leaving that instead to the FAA. The bill requires the
Transportation Department to create a dashboard that shows
consumers the minimum seat size for each U.S. airline.
Lawmakers also rejected many other consumer provisions the Biden
administration had sought.
The bill also reauthorizes the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) and boosts staffing at the safety investigation
agency. It also seeks to boost adoption of drones and flying air
taxis into the national airspace and extends through Oct. 1
existing government counter-drone authority.
(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Chris Reese and Rosalba
O'Brien)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
