By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday voted unanimously to approve legislation aiming to prevent aviation disruptions during government
shutdowns by ensuring air traffic controllers and other key workers are paid.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee also approved a separate bill that would require the Federal Aviation Administration to approve supersonic jet transport by April 2027 if certain conditions are met.
Major airlines strongly backed the air traffic control pay legislation, noting last month that the 43-day U.S. government shutdown and government-imposed flight cuts disrupted 6 million passengers and 50,000 flights because of rising air traffic controller absences. The FAA, citing aviation safety concerns, imposed unprecedented flight cuts at 40 major U.S. airports on November 7 that led to 7,100 flight cancellations and impacted 2.3 million passengers.
Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves said the legislation will ensure "that the aviation system and safety in the United States will not be jeopardized again by any potential government shutdowns" by tapping the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund to cover critical services that will keep the aviation system running safely for the traveling public.
The supersonic ban was imposed in 1973 due to property damage and hearing loss caused by sonic booms. Since then, environmentalists have also criticized supersonic aircraft for burning more fuel per passenger than comparable subsonic planes, while supporters of supersonic aviation say it could cut flight times from New York to Los Angeles to under four hours.
Lawmakers have pressed the FAA to disclose more data on what led to the flight cuts and the agency has sent letters of investigation to major airlines that appear not to have abided by the required flight cuts.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on Tuesday defended the decision to require flight cuts, saying "data began to show a potential safety risk at certain high-impact airports." He added that he was "confident that decreasing operations during an uncertain and stressful time was the right decision."
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
