Sen. Moran-backed bill to prevent FAA outages makes it to President’s desk
WASHINGTON D.C. (WIBW) - A bill backed by Kansas Senator Jerry Moran intended to secure American air travel has reached the president.
Sen. Moran helped introduce the NOTAM Improvement Act to prevent FAA outages like the one seen this past January. Sen. Moran calls the bill a step toward meeting the modern demands of safe travel.
“The complete failure of the FAA’s NOTAM system stranded millions of Americans and was a warning of the need to strengthen and modernize our air travel system,” said Sen. Moran. “The FAA has a responsibility to make certain air travel in our country is as safe and efficient as possible. Passing this legislation is an important step to help meet the demands of 21st-century travel and prevent a similar failure in the future.”
The law requires the FAA to establish a task force to strengthen the cyber-security of its NOTAM, or Notice to Air Missions, flight alert system.
“Travelers in the United States deserve safe and dependable air travel service, not nationwide ground stops caused by system failures like we saw earlier this year. That’s why as co-chair of the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus, I’m focused on strengthening our air travel infrastructure,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “By upgrading and modernizing the FAA’s NOTAM system, this new law will improve aviation safety and prevent system outages from derailing travel.”
“The system failure that grounded all flights earlier this year cannot happen again, and I was proud to join my colleagues Senators Klobuchar and Moran in this effort that would prevent similar outages in the future,” said Sen. Capito. “The NOTAM Improvement Act creates a taskforce of experts to develop specific improvements for this critical system, and I’m pleased to see it pass the House overwhelmingly and heading to the president’s desk.”
The January 11 outages grounded thousands of planes, leading to swaths of cancellations and delays that virtually halted air travel in the United States. The impact was felt further in the weeks following the incident.
Copyright 2023 WIBW. All rights reserved.
