Lawmakers Reach Deal on FAA Bill to Increase Aviation Safety and Address Air Traffic Control Backlog

Congress has until May 10 to vote before reaching the expiration cutoff. It marks a significant bipartisan deal before the November election.

The Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration building in Washington on July 21, 2007. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reached a deal on the five-year, $105 billion Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill just after midnight on April 29.

The bill enhances aviation safety standards and consumer protections, addresses hiring shortages and ongoing risk concerns related to air traffic control, and rejects a House proposal to raise the commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.