President Biden Signed the $105 Billion 2024 FAA Reauthorization Bill into Law Yesterday

(Washington, D.C.) United States President Joe Biden signed the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill, H.R. 39335, into law yesterday, reauthorizing the FAA as the country’s main aviation authority and providing $105 billion in funding for the FAA and $73 million for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for fiscal years 2024 through 2028.

Photo of a United airliner taking off at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (IATA: DCA; ICAO: KDCA; FAA LID: DCA) by Shawn Thew/EPA, via Shutterstock, courtesy of The New York Times.

“The bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization is a big win for travelers, the aviation workforce, and our economy,” said President Biden in a statement released today. “It will expand critical protections for air travelers, strengthen safety standards, and support pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers.”

The 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, which reauthorizes the FAA and related revenue authorities as well as the NTSB through September 30, 2028, comes on the heels of the previous FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which was signed into law on October 5, 2018 by former U.S. President Donald Trump and extended the FAA’s funding authorities through Fiscal Year 2023. At the time of its passage, the previous (2018) five-year authorization of the FAA represented the first significant multi-year reauthorization since the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, and the first five-year reauthorization since 1982.

Major provisions in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act with respect to commercial aviation include the following, per Airways Magazine and Reuters:

• Hiring more air traffic controllers to close a gap of 3,000 vacancies and mandating air traffic control (ATC) staffing research and increasing access to ATC simulator training;
• Increasing runway technology to improve runway safety and reduce aircraft collisions;
• Introducing passenger protections such as airline refunds becoming due in cash rather than vouchers via an automated process, mandating the usability of travel credits issued by airlines in lieu of refunds for five-year time periods, and prohibiting airlines from charging fees for families to sit together;
• Introducing new safety measures, including raising maximum civil penalties for airline consumer violations from $25,000 to $75,000 and ehancing Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-taught self-defense training for flight attendants in case of the need to fend off unruly passengers;
• Mandating the use of cockpit voice recorders for 25-hour periods rather than the current two-hour recording override threshold, an issue raised by the NTSB in January amid the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 door plug blowout investigation;
• The expansion of legal protections to ground-based employees, including gate and check-in agents.

As for business and general aviation, National Business Aviation Association President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Bolen commented: “We are very pleased to see this important and historic legislation, after many months of work, advance to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol, have come together and passed a bill that reflects the business aviation community’s priorities, provides a long-term roadmap for the agency and ensures that America will continue to lead the world in aviation safety, security, sustainability, innovation, workforce development and investment in airports and other critical infrastructure.”

Bolen noted that the bill contains a first-ever general aviation (GA) title, a key section of the legislation focused on enhancing safety, streamlining regulations and improving certification processes for general aviation aircraft, supporting certification for advanced air mobility (AAM) powered-lift aircraft and other technologies, and protecting flight privacy, per the NBAA.

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the FAA reauthorization bill’s designation of a GA title provides “undivided attention to programs and policies that directly impact the unique needs of GA aircraft owners and pilots.”

Photo taken on May 11th, when dozens of general aviation (GA) aircraft flew over our nation’s capital to tell the story of GA, by Chris Rose via the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

Key provisions in the bill related to general aviation are as follows, per AOPA:

• “Airport Improvement Program and GA airport funding: Authorizes $4 billion a year for the FAA’s airport projects program, an expansion from the current $3.35 billion annual spending level. Most of this increase will go toward funding for GA airports, where the $670 million funding will rise to $1 billion each year.
• Transient parking ramps: Provides $34 million per year in the small airport fund for construction of itinerant and transient GA parking.
• Protecting GA airports from closure: Protects U.S. civil aviation interests by rejecting the permanent closure of any grant-obligated airport unless the closure will not significantly impair the aeronautical purpose of an airport.
• GAO study on FBO fee transparency: Directs a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to be conducted on the efforts of FBOs to meet their commitments to improve the online transparency of prices and fees for all aircraft. AOPA pursued legislative language that would have required fair and reasonable FBO fees, but the provision was struck from the Senate bill due to opposition from airport representatives and the FBO industry.
• 100LL availability: Requires airports that offered 100LL aviation gasoline for sale in 2022 to continue offering the sale of 100LL until 2030 or the date on which the FAA certifies an unleaded aviation gasoline alternative is available for purchase or use by GA aircraft operators. This provision does not cover airports in Santa Clara County in California. In Alaska, the FAA may not restrict the use and availability of 100LL avgas through December 31, 2032, or six months after FAA certifies a fuel is widely commercially available throughout the state, whichever occurs first.
• Expansion of BasicMed: Increases the maximum certified takeoff weight of a covered aircraft to 12,500 pounds (up from 6,000 pounds), increases the number of allowable passengers in a covered aircraft to six (up from five), and increases the allowable number of seats in a covered aircraft to seven (up from six). This section also allows the FAA to employ the third class medical exam form a state-licensed physician uses in completing a comprehensive BasicMed examination. These changes become applicable 180 days after the bill is signed into law.
• Airman’s Medical Bill of Rights: Directs the FAA to develop an “Airman’s Medical Bill of Rights” that details the rights of an individual before, during, and after a medical examination conducted by an AME. It also directs the FAA to develop, and make readily available, an accompanying document to explain the standard procedures performed during a medical examination conducted by an AME.
• Eliminate aircraft registration backlog: Requires the FAA to take necessary actions to reduce and maintain the aircraft registration and recordation backlog at the Civil Aviation Registry so that on average, applications are processed no later than 10 business days after receipt.”

A full summary of the GA-related provisons of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 can be found at this link.

“Following flight disruptions, runway close calls and consumer frustrations, [the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act] is set to deliver the safest, most reliable aviation system in the world,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA). “Plane manufacturers will see more safety inspectors on factory floors and tougher safety standards from the FAA.”

One of the most highly disputed provisions of the bill involves that which introduces longer-distance flights at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (IATA: DCA; ICAO: KDCA; FAA LID: DCA); the issue of the benefits associated with providing more flight options to passengers versus the cons of a more congested airport experience was disputed by a group of Democratic senators from Washington.

Specifically, Maryland senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Virginia Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), sounded the alarm about their safety concerns with respect to the introduction of additional flights at Regan Airport on April 29th, per Simple Flying, given an “already over-burdened runway” at DCA, which is reportedly already operating near peak capacity.

According to Simple Flying, Reagan National was originally developed to accommodate 15 million passengers per year, yet in 2023, 25.5 million travelers were recorded as passing through the airport; nearly 820 commercial flights takeoff and land at Reagan National every day.

Alaska Airlines (AS) issued the following statement on May 15th: “Through the passage of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2024, five new flights were opened to increase direct service to our nation’s capital. Alaska Airlines intends to apply to the U.S. Department of Transportation for one of the new slot pairs to initiate service from San Diego, CA (SAN) to Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport (DCA).”

Per NBC News, efforts to boost aviation safety in the United States have taken on new urgency after a series of near-miss incidents, as well as January’s door plug mid-air emergency on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight.

Notably, the Reauthorization Act will also allow Boeing (NYSE: BA) to continue to produce its 767 freighter for another five years through 2033 in the United States, giving it an exemption from efficiency rules taking effect in 2028, per NBC News.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said that overall, the legislation “allows for more runway safety technology, more air traffic controllers and stronger oversight of aircraft production,” per NBC.