U.S. Travel Applauds Passage of Long-term FAA Renewal Bill

U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman issued the following statement upon final Congressional passage of the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024:

“Travelers had a clear demand for Congress to fix an aviation system challenged by years of federal underinvestment. This FAA renewal is a big step toward vastly improving the travel experience.

“Measures in the bill will address delays and cancellations and other travel hassles by modernizing air traffic control technology, boosting the air traffic control workforce, and investing in additional improvements to our nation’s airports and air travel system.

“We thank Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-TX) for their efforts to finalize reauthorization of the FAA, which will benefit flyers and help innovate the aviation system well into the future.”

The U.S. Travel Association has been a steady advocate for a long-term FAA renewal bill that provides funding policy changes to:

• Increase Air Traffic Control staffing and modernize ATC technology;
• Increase workforce development grants for pilot training and certification; and
• Increase funding and provide greater flexibility for airport improvement grants.

U.S. Travel strongly opposed an amendment offered to the FAA bill that threatened to prevent the Transportation Security Administration from using most automated facial recognition technology at airport checkpoints, which is in use at many of the largest and busiest airports in the U.S. The amendment by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) failed to advance.