House and Senate negotiate bill to help FAA add more air traffic controllers and safety inspector

Congressional negotiators have agreed on a $105b bill designed to improve the safety of air travel after a series of close calls between planes at the nation’s airports. House and Senate lawmakers said Monday that the bill will increase the number of air traffic controllers and require the Federal Aviation Administration to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between planes on runways. Lawmakers agreed to prohibit airlines from charging extra for families to sit together, and they tripled maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer laws. However, they left out other consumer protections proposed by the Biden administration. The bill was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats who lead the House and Senate committees overseeing the FAA, which has been under scrutiny since it approved Boeing jets that were quickly involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. The legislation will govern FAA operations for the next five years. The Senate could vote on the 1,069-page measure as early as next week, but it could be delayed if senators try to attach unrelated bills. FAA is operating under a temporary authorization that expires May 10, and Congress might need to pass another extension. The House approved its version of the bill last year, but a Senate committee approved a different version in February after fights over several provisions, including ones dealing with the training and retirement age of pilots. In the end, negotiators dropped a House provision raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to 67; it will remain at 65. Both chambers had already sidestepped a highly charged issue by narrowly rejecting a proposal backed by small airlines to let aspiring pilots count more time spent in simulators instead of flying planes toward reaching minimum experience standards.<br/>