Foreign aircraft repair facilities are now subject to drug and alcohol testing, and flight dispatchers can no longer work remotely. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still has more work to do in fully implementing last year’s FAA Reauthorization law.
May 16 marks the first anniversary of the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization being signed into law. While some key priorities of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) are in effect, others await action from the FAA.
Airlines are further incentivized to repair their planes with American workers now that the drug and alcohol testing loophole is closed. Starting in 2027, the FAA will conduct drug and alcohol testing at foreign aircraft repair facilities to ensure foreign workers meet the same safety standards as American counterparts.
“This is a significant victory for aviation safety and the TWU,” said TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia. “But the FAA still needs to implement other crucial components of the law to bolster aviation safety and protect American jobs.”
The FAA has yet to start rulemaking requiring background checks for safety-sensitive workers at foreign aircraft repair facilities and setting minimum qualifications for Aviation Maintenance Technicians at these facilities. Congress set a November 2025 deadline for this rulemaking.
This week, a ramp worker safety forum will be hosted by the FAA after TWU noted during a congressional hearing last month that it did not begin work on a ramp safety call to action by the November 2024 deadline set by Congress in last year’s reauthorization.
“We need the FAA to follow through and issue a call to action to improve safety for ramp workers but this week’s forum is a good start,” said TWU Aviation Division Director Andre Sutton. “We have continued to see disturbing safety lapses on ramps across the country that lead to injuries and deaths on the job.”
A positive development from last year’s law was ending remote dispatching immediately. This practice had been advocated by some airlines during the pandemic as a cost-cutting measure but was deemed unsafe.
“Remote dispatching was an unsafe practice that some airlines were promoting to save money,” Garcia stated. “The FAA reauthorization immediately ended that practice and ensured that flight dispatchers would be reporting to work from a location free from distractions.”
The reauthorization also led to workplace protections for Flight Attendants who need to express breast milk, enhanced security on flight decks by establishing an Aviation Rulemaking Committee for secondary barriers on aircraft, improved training standards for assisting passengers who use wheelchairs, and proper stowage of wheelchairs and scooters on planes.
However, there are critical components of reauthorization past due, most notably a study on toxic fume events resulting from malfunctioning bleed air systems initially included in the 2018 FAA reauthorization.
