Source: TSA Roadmap will drive key benefits such as improving the security screening performance, enhancing the customer experience and expanding TSA's engagement with aviation security industry partners The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) published its Open Architecture (OA) Roadmap that defines TSA's long-term strategy to enhance screening capabilities. Open Architecture is a technology-design approach for software and hardware that uses widely accepted standards to ensure interoperability across tools and platforms regardless of the technology designer, manufacturer or supplier. This approach increases the number of available partners who can supply improved technology quickly and at a lower cost. "Open architecture directly supports TSA's mission and its workforce, while further protecting the nation's transportation systems," said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. "This roadmap outlines [...]

Source: US FAA The Federal Aviation Administration named Kyle A. deCant as senior labor policy advisor. He will oversee strategic planning on labor issues and advise the agency’s acting administrator and deputy administrator. This is the first time the FAA’s front office will have a permanent position focused on these issues. “Kyle brings very strong legislative and policy experience to this position. He will be a great asset as we work with our labor partners daily to achieve our safety mission,” said Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson. Prior to joining the FAA, deCant served as senior labor policy counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. There he helped draft labor legislation including the Protecting the Right [...]

Source: TSA Plan Raise Provides all TSA Non-Executive Employees Compensation Equal to Federal Government's General Pay Scale The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has officially implemented its new Transportation Security Compensation Plan, previously referred to as pay equity for all TSA employees. This plan honors the commitment by Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro N. Mayorkas to invest in TSA's workforce through a modernized pay structure comparable with their colleagues on the federal government's General Schedule (GS) pay scale, regular step increases and a clear progression for pay mobility and growth. Since the inception of TSA, the workforce that secures the nation's transportations systems has been paid at a lower rate than the rest of the federal government. Today, DHS Secretary [...]

Source: US DOT Rulemaking Finalized on 33rd Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act On the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced a new rule which requires airline lavatories to be more accessible. This rulemaking, authorized by the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), would require airlines to make lavatories on new single-aisle aircraft large enough to permit a passenger with a disability and attendant, both equivalent in size to a 95th percentile male, to approach, enter, and maneuver within as necessary to use the aircraft lavatory. Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg previewed this rule at a White House ADA Anniversary event earlier this month. "Traveling [...]

Source: ICAO To further assist air transport regulators and operators in their mitigation of security threats associated with air cargo activities, ICAO and the World Customs Organization (WCO) have released a revised supply chain and secure mail publication today. The highly complex nature of the air cargo and mail operating environment, involving a multiplicity of entities, might add to the day-to-day operational difficulties of implementing security measures and countering threats. The advice, which has been published in the third edition of “Moving Air Cargo Globally”, describes the roles and responsibilities of these various entities, and highlights how they can work together effectively to secure air cargo and mail within the regulatory framework. “Maintaining operational efficiency and commercial viability has always [...]

Source: ALPA The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3935, the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act. The bill contained a poison-pill provision, which, if enacted by the Senate, could raise the airline pilot retirement age from 65 to 67. “As the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization, ALPA is committed to keeping flying safe. Unfortunately, H.R. 3935 as passed by the House will introduce new risk by raising the mandatory pilot retirement age. “Raising the retirement age is not only a solution in search of a problem, but it is also a proposal that has not been studied or vetted by aviation safety experts—those upon [...]