US Congress passes broad aviation safety, consumer bill

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a broad aviation bill to boost air traffic controller staffing, increase funding to avert runway close-call incidents, and speed refunds for canceled flights.

The 387-26 vote sends the $105 billion, five-year measure to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to sit together and requires airplanes to be equipped with 25-hour cockpit recording devices, up from the current two-hours, and directs the FAA to deploy advanced airport surface technology to help prevent collisions.