A few hours ago, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a new rule requiring that flight attendants receive a minimum of 10 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. Previously, the requirement was nine hours, although sometimes the rest period could be as short as eight.

Increased minimum rest

Flight attendants have fought hard for improved working conditions, and things are slowly improving. At a press conference this morning at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, the FAA announced the minimum rest period required increase.

Acting Administrator, Billy Nolen, opened the event, saying,

"Good morning, everyone. It truly is a good morning, because we are here to make an important change. One that is going to improve aviation safety and that has been long overdue."

He added,

"It's been a long road, and I can tell you, it's about time."

Nolen affirmed the importance of flight attendants to flight safety, having been a line captain for years.

Referring to the US Airways 'Miracle On The Hudson' flight that landed in the Hudson River in January 2009, Nolen said that two miracles occurred on that day. The first was the aircraft landing on the river, and the second was the safe evacuation of all passengers onboard, thanks to the flight attendants.

Sarah Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants, said,

"This rule is a long time in the making. And representative of 100,000 flight attendants in the United States, standing behind me are activists who worked diligently to raise our voices, to move tens of thousands of flight attendants to action... This started in the late 80s, as flight attendants were identifying the problems with fatigue."

According to Nelson, the fight started in the 1980s, but changes were not made, requiring flight attendants to perform scientific studies on the impact of rest. Congressionally mandated fatigue studies were performed to show the safety risk that a lack of rest posed to flight attendants.

The studies discovered that fatigue was rampant among flight attendants and many other health issues. Fatigue contributed to an increased risk of cancer, cardiac complications, and respiratory problems for all crew members, not only flight attendants.

Why did it take so long to increase minimum rest?

When asked why the decision took too long, acting administrator Nolen said,

"Let me just say, it did take too long. But I can assure you that since I came aboard, and took the acting administrator role, this has been one of my top top priorities, as of the Secretary's [Pete Buttigieg]. And together we got this done, it took us way too long, but we are finally here."

Nelson added that she is pleased with the rate at which the final rule was signed and how quickly the decision was made. She also said that she has never seen a rule passed where the airlines were given such a short period to implement a change, 90 days in this case.

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Today's announcement further reinforces the current administration's commitment to improving the aviation industry. Recently, the DOT released a dashboard that allows passengers to know their rights when flights are delayed or canceled. Additionally, the DOT recently announced that it is proposing a rule requiring airlines to divulge all fees from the moment a customer first sees the price of a fare.