Release #: 23.29
September 13, 2023

ALPA Pledges to Fight to Maintain Highest Aviation Safety Standards

Urges Special Interests to Stop Holding Up FAA Reauthorization

CHICAGO—This week at the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) annual Air Safety Forum, the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization reiterated its commitment to safety by calling out special interests in Washington for delaying the passage of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, denying the agency the funding and policy direction it needs at this critical moment in time.

“As we gather here in Chicago to rededicate ourselves to the cause of safety, there are special interests back in Washington that are working overtime to undermine the extraordinary progress we’ve made to keep flying safe,” said Capt. Jason Ambrosi, ALPA president. “In fact, if not for these special interests, I believe we’d have an FAA reauthorization bill approved and signed into law right now.”

As the Senate continues work on the bill, some groups are lobbying lawmakers to make changes to U.S. aviation safety laws, including weakening rigorous pilot-training requirements and arbitrarily raising the mandatory retirement age without first studying the implications of such a move. Since passage of the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010, which established the global gold standard for aviation safety, the United States has seen a 99.8 percent reduction in airline passenger fatalities.

“The airline industry’s success in achieving the gold standard of safety has been predicated on looking before we leap, on evaluating the potential consequences before making any change that could affect safety,” added Ambrosi. “Again, we have the safest system in the world thanks to your hard work, ALPA’s collaboration with industry, and the regulatory framework that we’ve put in place. So, it’s clear that no one who has the public interest in mind would ever suggest that we should upend that system. Only special interests would do that.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 75,000 pilots at 43 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.

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