The US’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has long sought legislative clarification as to its role, oversight and priorities. Several bills have been introduced in Congress over the years, but few had made it anywhere close to being passed into law. However, in February, President Obama signed into law the long-awaited FAA reform legislation. Congressman John Mica, of Florida, who is also Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the US House of Representatives, introduced the original bill.
Congressman Mica said House Resolution 658 will, “reform FAA programmes, eliminate expensive ticket subsidies, modernise our air traffic control system, improve airport infrastructure, reduce air traffic delays, and create jobs.” One part of the bill allows the FAA to move forward with its NextGen air traffic control modernisation programme, which will be GPS rather than radar-based. NextGen is also expected to lower fuel costs, reduce air pollution and bring down costs for the flying public. Another provision allows the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a federal agency, to supervise qualified private screeners rather than force every airport to exclusively use TSA personnel.
Funding
The funding of the FAA was one critical portion of the bill. Without a bill authorising a certain amount of money, if an agency runs out of funds, in some cases it must cease all activities except those related to national or personal security. The last FAA law had been extended a total of 17 times, often with stop-gap funding included to keep airports open and the security screeners at their posts for a period of anywhere from a few weeks to several months. The FAA had managed to function without a long-term bill and budget, making planning for the future extremely difficult. H.R. 658 provides $63.4bn over four years, including around $11bn towards the cost of implementing the new air-traffic control system.
In previous versions, the FAA bill had eliminated federal air-ticket subsidies, which had kept the prices of airline tickets out of small airports fairly reasonable. This was a particularly contentious provision in the bill and actually shut down the FAA for two weeks, though airport screeners and other “essential” personnel remained on the job. The bill prevents new membership of the Essential Air Service programme and reduces the budget for funds to those smaller airports. However, it only affects airports within 175 miles of a larger hub.
Another provision is that small, air travel-related businesses owned by disabled veterans will be given preference when government contracts are involved. The disabled veteran would have to have served in the Afghanistan/Iraq conflicts and/or the Iraq Gulf War. Another provision within the bill allows for flights of unmanned drones in US airspace, though jurisdictional disagreements are already simmering before even a single drone has hit the skies. It remains to be seen how some of the provisions in the bill will play out in the friendly skies over the USA.
