The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a regulation to mandate flight attendants have a longer rest period between shifts.
The proposed change would increase the rest period to 10 consecutive hours when scheduled for a duty period of 14 hours or less. Currently, flight attendants must have nine consecutive hours in their rest period.
In 2018, under the FAA Reauthorization Act, Congress directed the FAA to increase the minimum rest period for flight attendants with a scheduled duty of 14 hours or less in a domestic, flag and supplemental flight. The Reauthorization Act also required the FAA to prohibit a reduction of the rest period under any circumstances. The FAA’s proposal meets those requirements.
In September 2019, the FAA asked the public to submit initial comments ahead of this new proposed rule. The FAA also reached out to air carriers about the change.
The public has 60 days to comment on the draft rule once published in the Federal Register.
