The US House Of Representatives Approves The Extension Of The Age Of Retirement Of Commercial Pilots To 67 Years

Pilot illustration. (Unsplash/Celeb Woods)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) House of Representatives on Thursday passed the legislation for extending the retirement age of commercial pilots from 65 to 67 years old, as well as carrying out other flight reforms.

The results of the vote in the House of Representatives led by Republicans are 351-69, passing a bill that will re-avert aviation safety and infrastructure programs of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the next five years.

The Aviation Airlines Pilots Association said an increase in retirement could cause aviation scheduling and pilot training problems, requiring a review of the pilot's contract, as reported by Reuters on July 21.

It is known that current international rules still prohibit pilots over the age of 65 from flying in most countries outside the United States.

Meanwhile, the Regional Aviation Association supports the pilot's rise in age, saying this "allows the captain's more experienced retention, which in turn can fly together and guide young pilots, helping to stabilize the attrition."

Meanwhile, the White House said this week it was against the provisions of the DPR Bill that would cancel 2012 Department of Transportation regulations, requiring airlines to advertise full tariffs including government costs and taxes.

The DPR's move also does not include the provisions requested by President Joe Biden to compensate passengers for the delay or determine the minimum seat size of the airline.

The DPR's move will also prohibit airlines from charging for allowing families to sit together on flights. In addition, the DPR chose to maintain the pilot training rules adopted after the 2009 fatal passenger plane crash near Buffalo.

Airlines for America, an industry trade group, praised the bill's passage, saying it "underlined the need to hire more air traffic watchdogs, to ensure that our airspace has adequate staff."

Separately, the Senate Allocation Committee led by the Democratic Party unanimously approved funding for the FAA on Thursday. The move will allow the agency to hire an additional 1,800 supervisors next year. The Senate Commerce Committee can discuss the FAA recourse bill as early as next week.

It is known that the old bill was delayed due to a dispute over whether to change the terms of the pilot training imposed after the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident in February 2009 near Buffalo that killed 50 people, the last fatal US passenger airline accident to date.