Senators Duckworth, Baldwin seek FAA study

Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin asked the Federal Aviation Administration on May 15 to study whether reduced flight-attendant staffing on some dual-aisle aircraft could undermine passenger safety during emergency evacuations. The request, described in a letter to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and first reported by CBS News, also presses the agency for an update on an evacuation-safety review required by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The dispute centers on a narrow but consequential question: whether an aircraft can meet FAA minimum crew rules based on seat count while still leaving more floor-level exits than available flight attendants in an emergency. Duckworth and Baldwin wrote that passengers could be exposed to risk if no certified flight attendant is stationed at every dual-aisle floor-level exit. (cbsnews.com) The issue arrives as the FAA is already under pressure to modernize evacuation standards to reflect real-world conditions, including carry-on bags and passengers with disabilities, children and older travelers. Duckworth and Baldwin said the study required by their EVAC Act provision was due by May 16, 2025, but had not been completed as of their latest letter. (cbsnews.com) ### Why are the senators focused on exit doors and crew counts? Duckworth and Baldwin said their concern is most acute on dual-aisle aircraft where the number of floor-level emergency exits can exceed the number of flight attendants permitted under FAA-approved minimum staffing. In their letter, they said that could leave a single attendant responsible for operating two doors during an evacuation. (duckworth.senate.gov) The senators wrote that one flight attendant could be assigned to two doors “up to 19 feet apart,” a setup they said could leave “hundreds of passengers” across two aisles and middle seats dependent on one crewmember. They also said reduced staffing creates additional risk if a flight attendant is incapacitated during a serious incident. ### What do current FAA staffing rules require? (cbsnews.com) FAA regulations in 14 CFR 121.391 set minimum flight-attendant staffing by passenger seating capacity, not by the number of exits. For aircraft with more than 100 passenger seats, the rule requires two flight attendants plus one additional attendant for each 50 seats, or part of 50 seats, above 100. The same regulation says required flight attendants must be located as near as practicable to required floor-level exits during takeoff and landing and be distributed throughout the aircraft to provide the most effective egress in an emergency. (cbsnews.com) The rule also ties post-certification staffing to the number of attendants used in an evacuation demonstration if that number exceeded the regulatory minimum. (ecfr.gov) ### Which airlines are named in the senators’ complaint? CBS News reported that American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines had received FAA approval to reduce the number of flight attendants on some aircraft while remaining within the agency’s seat-based staffing rules. Duckworth and Baldwin said those approvals comply with the letter of the regulation but depart from what they described as a longstanding standard of matching flight attendants to floor-level exits on dual-aisle aircraft. (ecfr.gov) American’s Boeing 787-9P configuration became a focal example. CBS reported that the FAA last year certified that aircraft with a minimum of seven flight attendants even though it has eight exit doors; American said it still assigns eight to 10 flight attendants depending on route length, but the lower minimum gives it flexibility if a crewmember becomes ill during a trip. (cbsnews.com) ### What has the FAA said so far? An FAA spokesperson told CBS News that the agency would respond directly to the lawmakers. CBS also cited a prior FAA statement saying the agency bases flight-attendant requirements on maximum seating capacity and requires carriers to complete evacuation demonstrations for each seating configuration used to determine minimum staffing. (cbsnews.com) The FAA has separately said the 2024 reauthorization law directs agency work through fiscal 2028. On its reauthorization page, the agency says the law was signed on May 16, 2024. ### What happens next? May 16, 2025 was the statutory deadline Duckworth and Baldwin cited for the FAA’s evacuation-standards study, and the senators said in their May 15, 2026 letter that the report still had not been completed. The next step is the FAA’s response to Bedford’s letter and any release of the overdue study required under the 2024 law. (cbsnews.com) (duckworth.senate.gov) (faa.gov)