The largest US pilot union is sparing with the airline industry’s top trade group over compliance with a Federal Aviation Administration rule requiring passenger aircraft be equipped with secondary cockpit barriers.
The rule, which effect in 2023, prohibits airlines from operating jets produced on or after 25 August 2025 unless those aircraft are fitted with “installed physical secondary barriers”.
Those devices are intended to bolster cockpit security and are part of a yearslong regulatory and legislative effort aimed at addressing the type of risks exposed by the terrorist attacks of 2001.
On 5 May, with the 25 August deadline fast approaching, trade group Airlines for America (A4A) asked the FAA to grant carriers another two years to comply, until 25 August 2027, citing certification and training delays.
A4A said the FAA had not even yet approved any of the secondary barriers – though approval is expected in July. It also said the barriers’ manufacturers had not yet sent airlines the manuals and other documents they needed to develop crew-training programmes. Those programmes also require FAA approval.
As such, the 25 August deadline creates an “insurmountable challenge” and may require airlines ground jets, A4A said in its filing with the regulator.
The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), however, is now pushing back, urging the FAA in a 19 June letter to deny the exemption request.
“A4A’s request is nothing more than the latest effort to delay implementation of a safety requirement which was first proposed in 2013 and has been approved since 2018,” says ALPA. “The FAA should deny the request. Manufacturers and operators have had two years to comply.”
The union says airlines do not need two years to develop training and that computer-based training is sufficient, at least initially.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
