Bryan Bedford, who currently leads Republic Airways, didn’t mince words when discussing the mandatory airline pilot retirement age. Bedford was nominated as FAA head by President Donald Trump in March.
The Senate Commerce Committee held its confirmation hearing for Bedford on Wednesday, where he was pressed on whether legislators should raise the retirement age.
Last year, a Senate committee narrowly struck down plans to include the age increase as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act. Had this provision been passed, airline pilots would be able to fly until 67, an increase from the current age of 65.
“So those [who] wish to serve having an arbitrary mandatory retirement age doesn’t seem like the right answer to me,” Bedford said during the hearing.
Raising the retirement age was met with immense pushback from industry groups, including the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which is the largest pilots union, representing around 79,000 members.
“We had a of debate on the merits of it, which are, I think, pretty clear that we have really experienced pilots that still have a lot of gas in the tank…and a lot of mentoring that they can bring to the table for the younger workforce that we’re developing for the future,” he added.
International Logistics
Bedford noted that raising the retirement age comes with some strings attached. These include alignment with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
A handful of countries allow their airline pilots to fly beyond 65, but that age is largely the standard worldwide.
“But then there’s the logistics of the fact that these men and women are actually at the top of the fleet food chain,” Bedford continued. “They’re flying in the left seat of the most advanced widebody aircraft across the planet, and that’s great.”
“We have to be sensitive to the fact that the disruption that it would cause if in fact they can’t operate widebody airplanes and have to be deregulated down to a narrowbody jet may prohibit them from even wanting to serve.”
ICAO will become “very critical” to raising the retirement age, Bedford said.
“I think it’s absolutely possible to accomplish that in a reasonable period of time,” he said.
ICAO last raised the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65 in 2006.
Editor’s note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.
