News Summary

• The House has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would give the Federal Aviation Administration more money to hire air traffic controllers.
• It also aims to address pilot shortages by raising the mandatory retirement age.
• A provision raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 65 to 67 survived despite opposition from pilot groups.The House rejected an effort to increase the number of long-haul flights at Reagan Washington National Airport.
• Flights to and from the airport are generally limited to 1,250 miles.Opponents said the airport is already too congested and that adding more flights would lead to more delays.
• Smaller airlines lobbied for the change, saying it would ease a pilot shortage that is already causing a loss of service to smaller communities.
• Lawmakers voted 243-139 to remove a provision that would have allowed more flight simulator hours to be credited toward the 1,500-hour in-flight requirement to become an airline pilot.