Bloomberg Government first reported on 26 September that U.S. Congressional efforts to raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots to 67 from 65, suffered a setback when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rejected a proposal that would have allowed older commercial pilots to keep flying.
The move by the Montreal-based ICAO complicates efforts in Washington to pass bipartisan legislation backed by the airline industry to address projected pilot shortages. Similar legislation stalled last year because congressional action without support from other countries would leave American pilots above age 65 unable to fly to many international destinations.
The United States joined China and other countries in declining to support the proposal put forward by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which called for the mandatory pilot retirement age to be raised to 67 from 65, at ICAO’s meeting in Montreal last month.
IATA cited no safety concerns
IATA noted that when the age was increased from 60 to 65 in 2006, there was no increase in problems. IATA also cited Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which do not have maximum age limits for pilots.
Right now, both the United States and ICAO, which is part of the United Nations and regulates international flights, require pilots to retire when they reach 65.
Opposition from pilots’ unions
Aviation unions have long opposed raising the age, citing safety concerns. The Air Line Pilots Association, the largest airline pilots’ union in the world, applauded the decision. Over 80,000 pilots at 43 U.S. and Canadian airlines are represented by the union.
The union said modernising the air traffic control system should take priority instead and stated, “The United States leads the world in aviation, and we should resist any political attempts, especially those not backed by data and science, that would disrupt the US aviation system and put us outside international standards.”
Photo Credit: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock.com
