A pilot holds the thrust controls of a United Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, Recent Jersey, March 9, 2023.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
A House panel voted Wednesday to boost the mandatory retirement age for industrial airline pilots to 67 from 65 because the industry faces a persistent shortage of aviators.
Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure voted 32-31 to incorporate the measure in proposed laws to reauthorize Federal Aviation Administration programs for five years.
“It is a modest increase but that provides us a while for long-term solutions to take shape,” said Faye Malarkey Black, president of the Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller carriers, which feed major airlines.
The association had pushed for the bill to stem the lack of pilots as airlines ramp up each schedules and pilot hiring after shrinking through the Covid-19 pandemic by urging aviators to take buyouts. Airlines have blamed a shortage of pilots on service reductions, particularly to small cities.
The last time Congress raised the pilot retirement age was in 2007 when it was raised from 60 to 65.
The committee voted 63-0 on the proposed FAA reauthorization bill on Wednesday, but it surely now faces a vote in the complete House. It’s not clear whether the brand new retirement age provision could be in a final version of the bill, or make it through a vote in either chamber.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the country’s biggest pilot labor union, which represents aviators at major carriers like Delta and United, has opposed the measure.
“The rash decision to maneuver an amendment on changing the statutory pilot retirement age, without consulting agencies liable for safety, or studying potential impacts of such a change as has been done elsewhere, is a politically driven alternative that betrays a fundamental understanding of airline industry operations, the pilot occupation, and safety,” ALPA said in a press release.
