The Proposal is Meant to Increase Pilot Availability During the Current Shortage
In an effort to help ease the airline pilot shortage and keep healthy experienced pilots in the cockpit, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced legislation yesterday (July 25) to raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 years old.
“In the next two years, 5,000 pilots will be aged out, and over the next five years 14,000 pilots are going to be taken out of the cockpit because they turn 65. Not because they’re unsafe, but just simply because they reached 65,” said Graham in a press conference about his proposal.
“The last time we adjusted the age was in 2007. The sky did not fall while adjusting the age from 60 to 65, and it won’t fall by going to 67,” said Graham. “What will happen is we’ll give an opportunity to thousands of pilots if they choose to stay in the cockpit which makes it better for all of us depending on air travel.”
Other Senators backing the proposal include John Thune (R-South Dakota), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee). House cosponsors include Reps Clay Higgins (LA), Dusty Johnson (SD), Mary Miller (IL), Adrian Smith (NE), and Lauren Boebert (CO).
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, however, is opposed to the new idea due to safety concerns, along with pilot unions. Organizations such as the National Air Carrier Association, the Regional Airline Association, and the San Antonio International Airport however support new legislation.
“Americans are now experiencing flight delays and cancellations on an unacceptable scale due to a worsening pilot shortage,” says Rep. Roy. “A key factor is a government-mandated retirement age that forces out thousands of our most qualified pilots every year.”
Rep. Roy is expected to introduce the House bill in Congress today, which you can see HERE.
Some key points in the legislation:
- Requires that pilots over the age of 65 maintain a first-class medical certification, which must be renewed every six months.
- Requires air carriers to continue using pilot training and qualification programs approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
- Does not change or alter any other qualification – beyond age – to become a commercial airline pilot.
The airlines themselves have been taking their own avenues to address the growing pilot shortage, such as offering more pay and bonuses and eliminating mandatory requirements for 4-year degrees. Others are offering scholarships for flight training, or even teaching student pilots themselves and helping financially as they progress (costs are the most prohibitive reason why people don’t train to be career pilots).
Others, like Republic Airways, have even petitioned the federal government to let them hire pilots with only 750 flight hours, half what is required now, if those pilots go through the company’s own training program.
“The traveling public deserves better than what they are currently getting,” says Sen. Graham. “Our bill moves the needle in the right direction. Without this change, it (the pilot shortage and cancellations because of it) is only going to get worse.”
