Bill Would Add Air Traffic Controllers 04/30 06:17

   

   (AP) -- Congressional negotiators have agreed on a $105 billion bill 
designed to improve the safety of air travel after a series of close calls 
between planes at the nation's airports.

   House and Senate lawmakers said Monday that the bill will increase the 
number of air traffic controllers and require the Federal Aviation 
Administration to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between 
planes on runways.

   Lawmakers agreed to prohibit airlines from charging extra for families to 
sit together, and they tripled maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer 
laws. However, they left out other consumer protections proposed by the Biden 
administration.

   The bill was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats who lead the House and 
Senate committees overseeing the FAA, which has been under scrutiny since it 
approved Boeing jets that were quickly involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 
and 2019. The legislation will govern FAA operations for the next five years.

   The Senate could vote on the 1,069-page measure as early as next week, but 
it could be delayed if senators try to attach unrelated bills. FAA is operating 
under a temporary authorization that expires May 10, and Congress might need to 
pass another extension.

   The House approved its version of the bill last year, but a Senate committee 
approved a different version in February after fights over several provisions, 
including ones dealing with the training and retirement age of pilots.

   In the end, negotiators dropped a House provision raising the mandatory 
retirement age for airline pilots to 67; it will remain at 65. Both chambers 
had already sidestepped a highly charged issue by narrowly rejecting a proposal 
backed by small airlines to let aspiring pilots count more time spent in 
simulators instead of flying planes toward reaching minimum experience 
standards.

   The FAA has a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers nationwide. 
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and one of 
the negotiators, said the final bill shows "that aviation safety and stronger 
consumer standards are a big priority .... It is also the first major upgrade 
to air traffic controller hiring in decades."

   One of the most contentious issues in the bill turns out to be a provision 
that would allow an additional 10 flights per day longer than 1,250 miles to 
and from Reagan Washington National Airport, across the Potomac River from 
Washington, D.C. Delta Air Lines and some Western lawmakers wanted to add 56 
flights. The House said no, but a Senate committee approved 10 flights, or five 
round trips -- and that made it into the final bill.

   "We were pushing for more, but if we get five, we'll take five," Delta CEO 
Ed Bastian said in an interview this month.

   United Airlines -- which dominates less-convenient Dulles Airport, 25 miles 
west of the nation's capital -- opposed the idea. Lawmakers from Virginia and 
Maryland said Monday they were "deeply frustrated" at the provision, arguing 
that National is already too busy. They pointed to a close call there between 
two planes earlier in April, calling it a "flashing red warning light."

   Lawmakers in both chambers rejected a proposal from consumer groups to give 
state officials power to regulate airlines, but the administration separately 
cut a deal letting 15 mostly Democratic states help the U.S. Transportation 
Department enforce federal consumer-protection rules.

   Some other provisions in the bill:

   -- The Transportation Department will create a "dashboard" so consumers can 
compare seat sizes on all the airlines, but lawmakers stopped short of setting 
a minimum size.

   -- The bill would write into law that airlines must pay a refund to 
customers for flight delays -- at three hours for a domestic flight and six for 
an international one. The Transportation Department issued a similar regulation 
last week, but laws are harder for future administrations to change.

   -- When airlines offer travel credits instead of a refund, the credits must 
be valid for least five years.

   -- Maximum civil penalties against airlines that violate consumer-protection 
laws would triple, from $25,000 to $75,000.

   -- Starting next year, new airline planes must have cockpit voice recorders 
capable of saving 25 hours of audio, up from the current two hours, to help 
investigators. This won't apply retroactively to planes already in use.

   -- Requires the FAA to increase oversight of aircraft repair shops in other 
countries, a key demand in recent years by U.S. airline unions, which claim the 
foreign shops aren't as safe.

   -- Requires the FAA to create a new system for tracking and locating 
high-altitude balloons. This became an issue in February 2023 when a Chinese 
balloon drifted across the entire U.S. The military shot it down off South 
Carolina, but not before Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a 
high-level visit to China in response to the incident.