WASHINGTON: Federal regulators are proposing to give flight attendants an extra hour of rest between shifts, a change that Congress approved in 2018 but was not implemented by the Trump administration.
The Federal Aviation Administration proposed Thursday that flight attendants get 10 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. The proposal does not change the current 14-hour limit on a flight attendant working day.
Current rules require flight attendants to rest for nine hours straight between shifts, which can be shortened to eight hours in some circumstances. Congress passed a law in 2018 that directed the FAA to extend the mandatory rest period, but the FAA missed the deadline for publishing the regulation.
The airline industry opposed the change. Airlines for America, a trade group for the largest US carriers, estimated it would add $786 million in costs over 10 years on its carriers, which employ about two-thirds of all US flight attendants.
The change was lobbied for by flight attendant unions.
Sarah Nelson, president of the Flight Attendants’ Association, said flight attendant fatigue is real. Covid has only widened the security gap with longer duty days, shorter nights and combative situations on planes.
The FAA said it would provide 60 days for public comment, and airlines would have up to 30 days after the final rule was published to verify compliance.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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