Unions Notch Congress Win to Keep Pilots’ Retirement Age at 65

The wide-ranging reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration passed by Congress this week marks a win on Capitol Hill for organized labor, even as pilots sue over retirement policies in court.

The years-long aviation package brokered by lawmakers notably doesn’t include a two-year increase to the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots. A coalition of unions, led by the Air Line Pilots Association, staved off a bipartisan provision endorsed by some pilots and regional airlines seeking to expand the pool of available pilots by raising the cutoff to 67 from 65.

An earlier iteration of the legislation that passed the ...