Senate Approves FAA Authorization Bill

The United States Senate voted 93-6 on Wednesday to approve a five-year authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The legislation will now go to President Trump’s desk for final approval.

The news comes a week after the House passed the bill and three days after the Sept. 30 deadline, which had been extended a week. 

The compromised bill includes preservation of the DOT’s full-price advertising rule, which is geared toward punishing deceptive airline pricing, a ban on in-flight voice calls, minimum standards for seat size and legroom, and a prohibition of the involuntary bumping of passengers who have already boarded.

Most notably, for travel agents, it doesn’t include provisions that ASTA had warned could slap costly and time-consuming disclosure requirements on their industry.

Aside from ASTA, which claimed victory after getting the provision excluded, a number of other groups have released statements reacting to the news.

U.S. Travel aid that there was good news in the bill—“the FAA bill concludes the years-long effort to reauthorize essential transportation programs, and it does so with many positive provisions on board”—but that it ultimately falls short in addressing aging infrastructure.

“America’s airports are vital to commerce, but as a country we have failed to prioritize keeping them properly maintained and modernized. As a consequence, our air transportation infrastructure is failing to keep pace with the rest of the world.”