Air Travel Can Be a Nightmare but Can Congress Fix It?
WASHINGTON—U.S. lawmakers are arguing over how best to fix a pilot supply crunch, expand access to a popular but overcrowded D.C.-area airport, and bolster protections for consumers at a time when surging travel demand is straining capacity. The debate comes as Congress races to hammer out legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration before Oct.
1. A bill in the GOP-controlled House is scheduled for a floor vote Thursday. The Democratic-run Senate Commerce Committee, meanwhile, has yet to schedule a vote on its bill.
Congress is ironing out the five-year reauthorization just as a strong rebound in air travel has stretched airlines’ capacity. In December, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 16,000 flights during the holiday travel season. Summer storms in recent weeks have thrown airline operations into disarray at times, and some airline executives have said air-traffic control staffing shortfalls have exacerbated the challenges.
“There’s great bipartisan effort to help restore air travel as a reliable mode of transportation," said Rep. Rick Larsen (D., Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. House lawmakers are considering raising the retirement age for pilots and adjusting training requirements.
They are also looking to beef up programs to recruit and train air-traffic controllers and other aviation workers, all in an effort to ease a labor squeeze. “We’re having crew shortages everywhere," said Rep. Sam Graves (R., Mo.), who chairs the transportation panel, which wrote the bill.
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