Senate passes sweeping FAA bill focused on safety and consumer protections

WASHINGTON — The Senate precocious connected Thursday overwhelmingly passed a wide aviation bill to boost air postulation controller staffing, summation backing to avert runway close-call incidents and velocity refunds for canceled flights.

The $105 billion, five-year measurement reauthorizes nan Federal Aviation Administration. The measure prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to beryllium together and requires airplanes to beryllium equipped pinch 25-hour cockpit signaling devices — up from nan existent two-hours — and directs nan FAA to deploy precocious airdrome aboveground exertion to thief forestall collisions.

The measure adds 5 regular round-trip flights astatine engaged Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and requires airlines to judge vouchers and credits for astatine slightest 5 years.

Efforts to boost aviation information successful nan United States person taken connected caller urgency aft a bid of near-miss incidents and nan Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug mid-air emergency.

The bill, which is expected to get last support adjacent week from nan House of Representatives, does not raise nan mandatory aviator status property to 67 arsenic lawmakers had sought to do past year.

Earlier this week, lawmakers agreed to revise language to guarantee speedy refunds for hose passengers whose flights are canceled who bought non-refundable tickets and who are not seeking replacement flights.

The measure raises maximum civilian penalties for hose user violations from $25,000 per usurpation to $75,000 and intends to reside a shortage of 3,000 aerial postulation controllers by directing nan FAA to instrumentality improved staffing standards and to prosecute much inspectors, engineers and method specialists.

Congress will not found minimum spot size requirements, leaving that alternatively to nan FAA. The measure requires nan Transportation Department to create a dashboard that shows consumers nan minimum spot size for each U.S. airline.

Congress also rejected galore different user provisions the Biden management sought.

The measure besides reauthorizes nan National Transportation Safety Board and boosts staffing astatine nan information investigation agency. It besides seeks to boost take of drones and flying aerial taxis into nan nationalist airspace and extends done Oct. 1 existing authorities counter-drone authority.