U.S. HOUSE PASSES FY 2023 TRANSPORTATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL INCLUDING PROBLEMATIC “FLAGS OF CONVENIENCE” AMENDMENT
August 19, 2022
On July 20, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the Transportation – HUD spending bill for fiscal year 2023. If adopted in its current form, the bill would provide $3.35 billion for the Airport Improvement Program and appropriate an extra $273 million in general-fund revenue for discretionary grants available to all U.S. airports.
Notably, the House version of the bill includes language that some aviation groups have deemed “problematic” in terms of existing Open Skies aviation agreements.
Section 419, also known as the “Flags of Convenience” amendment, potentially puts a prohibition on certain foreign air carrier permit and exemption applications submitted by carriers governed by the U.S.-E.U.-Iceland-Norway Air Transport Agreement. The subsection specifically provides that none of the funds provided for in the bill can be used to “approve a new foreign air carrier permit” or for an exemption application for a foreign carrier that already holds an air operators certificate issued by a country that is a party to the U.S.-E.U.-Iceland-Norway Air Transport Agreement if such an approval would “contravene United States law or Article 17 bis of the U.S.-E.U.-Iceland-Norway Air Transport Agreement.”
ACI-NA and other aviation industry groups have stated that they are continually working to ensure that the Flags of Convenience amendment is not adopted by the Senate nor included in the final bill to be adopted later this year. The bill will now be considered by the U.S. Senate.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6665).
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