$105 billion bill on air travel safety gets House, Senate approval

WASHINGTON, D.C.: After a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports, congressional negotiators agreed this week on a $105 billion bill to improve air travel safety in the country.

House and Senate lawmakers said that the bill will increase the number of air traffic controllers and require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to adopt new technology developed to prevent plane collisions on runways.

They also agreed to triple maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer laws and prohibit extra charges for families to sit together.

The bill was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats who lead the House and Senate committees overseeing the FAA, which has been under scrutiny after it approved Boeing planes involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.

The legislation will manage FAA operations for the next five years.

The House approved its version of the bill last year, but a Senate committee approved a different version in February after arguments over several provisions, including those related to the training and retirement age of pilots.

Negotiators eventually dropped a House provision raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to 67, which will stay at 65.

Another controversial issue was sidestepped by both bodies, which narrowly rejected a proposal backed by small airlines to allow aspiring pilots to count more time training on simulators towards reaching minimum experience standards instead of flying real planes.

The FAA said there is a shortage of some 3,000 air traffic controllers in the U.S.

Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and one of the negotiators, said the final bill shows "that aviation safety and stronger consumer standards are a big priority."

"It is also the first major upgrade to air traffic controller hiring in decades," she added.