FAA SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AIRPLANE SEAT SIZES TO DETERMINE FUTURE RULEMAKINGS
September 12, 2022
The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) recently announced via press release that it is currently seeking public comments on the minimum seat dimensions for seats onboard commercial aircraft to determine if they are too small. Specifically, FAA is seeking comments on the minimum seat dimensions necessary for passenger safety as it relates to airplane evacuations. This is part of FAA’s ongoing efforts to determine whether to issue new regulatory standards to ensure safety and comply with its duties under Section 577 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. So far, over 11,000 comments have been submitted on this issue.
As some readers may recall, in 2018 Congress instructed the FAA to issue rules regarding the minimum dimensions (i.e., seat pitch, width, and length) for passenger seats on aircraft that are operated by airlines in interstate and intrastate transportation and are necessary to passenger safety. To gather data to comply with the directive, FAA conducted a number of simulated emergency evacuations at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (“CAMI”) and published a report, available here, which included several recommendations on how the safety of such evacuations could be improved. According to the report, seat size and spacing did not adversely affect the success of emergency evacuations, but CAMI still recommended that FAA continue to monitor size issues related to passenger seats. Written comments related to the size of commercial aircraft seats are due by November 1, 2022. Interested parties can submit comments on this issue in FAA’s nonrulemaking docket on the matter, available here.
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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