Davids Helps Pass Bipartisan FAA Reauthorization to Improve Consumer Protections, Safety for Air Travelers

Today, Representative Sharice Davids voted for a bipartisan, bicameral compromise to improve customer protections and accessibility while flying, increase America’s aviation safety standards, and strengthen domestic aviation workforce and manufacturing. Today’s bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) included a Davids-sponsored amendment to modernize control tower-pilot communications, which will help limit safety lapses and near misses in the skies and on airport runways.

“Our economy depends on the reliable air travel of people and goods to keep our communities moving and maintain a strong domestic supply chain,” said Davids. “With today’s bipartisan reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, Congress came together so that folks are protected financially, feel safe while flying, and have access to good-paying aviation manufacturing jobs. Bipartisan legislating is far more common than we see on the nightly news, and I’ll continue prioritizing this approach because it’s the surest way to deliver tangible, lasting results for Kansans.”

The bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2024, which Davids voted for today,will fund the FAA for the next five years and provide new guidance and standards for the agency. Specifically, it:

• Improves airline customer protections and accessibility by directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to:
  • Developing policies for airlines to reimburse passengers for meal and hotel costs incurred when a flight is cancelled;
  • Requiring airlines to create plans to prevent and limit the impact of mass flight cancelations;
  • Establishing policies allowing passengers to sit next to their young child.
• Increases America’s aviation safety standards by:
  • Decreasing the risk of airport near-collisions;
  • Reviewing airplane passenger emergency medical kits and evacuation procedures;
  • Requiring the FAA to update security measures to help prevent assaults against flight crews and passengers.
• Strengthens U.S. aviation workforce and manufacturing by:
  • Hiring more air traffic controller agents;
  • Boosting American manufacturing through limiting Chinese-owned companies from accessing federal dollars.

Davids has prioritized consumer protections and safety throughout the FAA reauthorization process. She previously introduced an amendment to the reauthorization package to ensure transparency of airline fees for consumers throughout the ticketing process. During a committee hearing, Davids spoke with airline professionals about how the overall flying experience, including safety and transparency of hidden fees, could be improved. She also called on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg to provide answers for last year’s aviation safety notification system meltdown and to hold airlines accountable for mass cancellations.

Today’s FAA reauthorization includes additional priorities Davids has pushed for in the past, including advanced air mobility (AAM) regulations. Davids’ legislation to promote AAM, an emerging sector of the aviation industry that creates an entirely new mode of transportation using specialized vehicles to transport people and cargo, was signed into law by President Biden in 2022.