Senate Passes FAA Reauthorization With Requirements to Improve Safety, Technology and Flying Experience

by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 1:05 PM ET, Thu February 8, 2024

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed the bipartisan Senate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2023 on Thursday.

A temporary funding extension had been passed through March 8.

The five-year legislation—which authorizes more than $107 billion in appropriations for the FAA for fiscal years 2024 through 2028–addresses a variety of safety issues in an industry that's come under fire for accidents and near-misses of late.

The bill mandates that the FAA implement new staffing models to close the current gap of 3,000 controllers and requires the agency to ramp up staffing to close the 20 percent shortage of FAA safety inspectors responsible for certification and production oversight.

The FAA must also raise the safety bar for foreign repair stations to meet U.S. standards and deploy more surface detection technology at more large- and medium-sized hub airports to prevent near-misses.

Meanwhile, airplanes must be equipped with 25-hour cockpit voice recorders for the benefit of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has an increased capacity to hire safety investigators as the bill authorizes $720 million in appropriations for fiscal years 2024 through 2028. The bill also calls for more robust reporting and FAA investigation of service difficulty reports.

The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2023 also sets refund standards for non-refundable tickets, protects vouchers for five years, prohibits fees for family seating and triples fines for airline consumer violations. A refund is due in the event of a three-hour delay for domestic flights and a six-hour delay for international flights and airlines are required to display easy-to-find refund request buttons on their websites.

Additionally, the bill prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to sit together and doubles the Department of Transportation's (DOT) statutory civil penalty for consumer violations from $25,000 per violation to $75,000.

plane, flight, DFW, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, airport

"This bipartisan bill delivers improvements to aviation safety and consumer protections that Americans have been demanding,” Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Committee, said in a statement.

"The bill will put more FAA safety inspectors on factory floors and more air traffic controllers in towers," Cantwell added. "It forces airlines to improve customer service—establishing mandatory refunds for flight disruptions and barring carriers from charging extra for families to sit together. Aviation is a key sector of the U.S. economy and supports millions of U.S. jobs. We need to make the right investments, hire the best-skilled workers and make our aviation safety system the gold standard of the world."

"This bipartisan bill will help ensure the FAA can improve at its core mission of keeping the flying public safe," added Senator Ted Cruz, Ranking Member of the Committee. "With the aviation industry facing serious challenges, this legislation charts a course to address many of them while also modernizing and transforming the FAA's operations."

"The legislation will also nurture innovation and nascent technology like air taxis, hypersonic planes, and unmanned aircraft. I want to thank my Republican and Democrat colleagues alike for their hard work on this bill. Today’s action moves us much closer to a final FAA reauthorization that makes the nation’s aviation system safer and more reliable.”

Tori Emerson Barnes, who is the U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy, issued the following statement on passage of the bill.

“The Senate Commerce Committee’s passage of an FAA reauthorization bill is a critical step toward ensuring the long-term safety and modernization of the U.S. air travel system, in addition to boosting air traffic controller staffing levels to meet growing demand. It’s critical that the House and Senate move quickly to conference their bills and send a final package to the president’s desk. U.S. Travel thanks Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz, Aviation Subcommittee Chair Duckworth and Ranking Member Moran for moving this legislation forward.”