Bid to Let Pilots Fly Until 67 Gets New Look Amid Travel Woes

A battle over increasing the mandatory retirement age for commercial airline pilots is building in Congress, as a wave of retirements loom and carriers brace for another busy season of post-pandemic travel.

As many as 5,000 commercial pilots will be forced to leave their jobs when they hit the mandatory retirement age of 65 in the next two years, adding to a shortage projected to steadily increase. Some pilots and groups representing regional and low-cost airlines want Congress to change the retirement age to 67 as part of its reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration this year.

A similar proposal ...