All this bill is is a bailout for the regional airlines in disguise. That’s why Manchin supports it - presumably WV has been hit by a loss of regional service. Hopefully it either dies to the filibuster, in the House, or Biden vetoes it. I’d put my money on it getting snuck into a required bill and passing, though.

Yet somehow I see they are still flying 7 flights a day from Greenville, SC to CLT and 11 flights a day between COS and Denver. Seems like they could spare at least one flight between these airports and use them on some smaller ones where the drive is too long. I am guessing almost every pilot drives to work from these airports that are only a 2 hour drive.

I mean if we are really looking for short term solutions this would work.

Will never get 60 votes in the senate. It’s anti-labor and can easily be voted no by every single democrat by pointing out that this will delay the industry’s diversity programs by 2 years. Next.

Yep, that's precisely why the Sec of Trans is against it.

Nice try, DEI wont be affected by a change in the age for mandatory retirement. Every airline has or is in the process of creating gateway/cadet programs due to the dire need for pilots. All the airlines have to do is take the enrollment rosters to congress and show them the diverse range of applications. Regardless of how you identify you still have to possess the skills and aptitude to become a licensed commercial aviator.

has he said that?

https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...ge-2023-03-21/

last sentence:

"Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has previously said he does not support raising the pilot retirement age."

This article is from last summer:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics...s-president-80

Hard to picture an 80yr old with the nuclear codes refusing to sign a bill because a 67yr old isn't up-to-snuff in terms of cognitive ability and health. That was really how we got the first age change. The entire Aviation and Transportation Subcommittee was filled with geezers who had PPL's - same general deal on the senate side. As such, they KNEW that they hadn't lost a step.

"Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) says he won’t guarantee he’ll be more vigilant about checking NOTAMs after he landed on a closed runway occupied by maintenance workers ten days ago in Texas. “People who fly a lot just don’t do it,” Inhofe told the Tulsa World. “I won’t make any commitments.” Inhofe added that while “technically” pilots should “probably” check NOTAMs, it would be impractical for him to do so on the many flights he makes to small airports in Oklahoma each year."

These are the types of folks that made that 65 decision. The good news is that the current committee looks to be younger by an order of magnitude.

It's anti- some labor. It's pro- other labor.

If you're saying the administration favors young workers over older workers, that's kind of illogical.

Mayor Pete, sure that's the cloth he's cut from.

But Biden??? On the campaign trail next year he might not want to have to answer questions about why he's opposed to 67 year old pilots :rolleyes:

the politicians and the RAA are blowing a lot of smoke. If those small airports that have seen service decrease, or lost service completely, made the big airlines money, they wouldn’t have lost service! it’s an economic issue.

United has flipped from majority of its flights being on Express (in 2019) to a 64% share being mainline today. Some markets just can’t be flown profitably, 50 seats or not, so airlines are making business decisions to no longer fly them. It doesn’t make sense to chase what few passengers a small market has if there is competition. Such is life.