FAA reauthorization bill formally introduced

After months of debate and lobbying efforts, United States lawmakers on Friday formally introduced a bill in Congress to fund and reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration until 2028. While the bill had not been assigned a number as of press time, U.S. Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo.; Rick Larson, D-Wash.; Garret Graves, R-La.; and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn; published their draft bill before the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, according to a press release . The FAA’s current authorization expires Sept. 30. [caption id="attachment_56864066" align="alignright" width="460"] Without reauthorization the FAA will run out of funding Sept. 30. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] The bill is scheduled to be marked up by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday. The authorization bill includes provisions for the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Leaders in the UAS industry have long waited for the FAA to develop methods to authorize flights and integrate drones into the airspace. The draft reauthorization bill incorporates UAS leaders into several other rulemaking committees, including the cybersecurity and autonomous flight advisory committees, as well as increasing their presence on the FAA’s NextGen Advisory Committee. Aircraft automation developer Reliable Robotics is pleased with the draft, a spokesperson told Cargo Facts . “We are generally positive on the House FAA reauthorization bill as it addresses important priorities for aviation safety-enhancing technologies and advanced automation,” Scott O'Brien, legislative affairs strategist for Reliable Robotics, told Cargo Facts. “There are still lots of moving pieces, so we will be interested to see what comes out of markup.” The FAA Authorization Act of 2023 includes provisions and definitions involving the certification of cargo compartments of aircraft, as well as provisions for cargo operations at U.S. airports. Major changes for manned cargo operations include: Increasing funding to 4% of apportionments with a total cargo-only landing weight of 25 million pounds; previously, freighter operations were entitled to 3.5% of apportionments of total annual landing weights exceeding 100 million pounds; and protections for runway lengths of airports to accommodate cargo aircraft delivering heating fuel for communities serviced by airports; and Membership of air cargo carriers alongside other stakeholders to rulemaking committees on secondary flight deck barriers and cockpit voice recorder requirements under Part 121 operations; and Updates to publication requirements on cargo hold dimensions. However, some industry stakeholders believe the FAA’s introduced reauthorization should do more to deal with airport infrastructure issues. “I wish the issue of truck congestion in the cargo areas of the major airports was addressed,” Brandon Fried, executive director of the Air Forwarders Association, told Cargo Facts. “There has not been any substantial investment in these facilities in over forty years, and as a result we saw truck waiting times during the pandemic averaging six hours and are still experiencing two to three hours despite significantly less volume,” Fried said. “We would like a GAO [Government Accountability Office] study and money for specific airports to improve their throughput.”

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