FAA Set to Grant Flight Attendants Extra Rest in Rule Change

A flight attendant walks on board a Delta Air Lines plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) in Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. For the third time in less than two months, the U.S. aviation system on Tuesday faced the threat of widespread flight disruptions over potential 5G interference, only to get a temporary reprieve. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Alan Levin and Mary Schlangenstein, Bloomberg News

Oct 3, 2022

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(Bloomberg) -- US aviation regulators are set to approve a long-delayed rule change giving flight attendants an extra hour of rest between shifts, according to people familiar with the matter.

The decision is expected to be the focus of a press briefing Tuesday in Washington with Federal Aviation Administration acting Administrator Billy Nolen, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the action before it’s announced.

Flight attendants currently must be given at least nine hours of rest between shifts. Congress had ordered that be expanded to 10 hours, a change that had been pushed by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union. Details of other possible aspects of the new regulation weren’t immediately available. 

The change would come almost four years after a congressionally imposed deadline to rework the regulation. The FAA published a proposed rule change last October.

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