Sen. Lindsey Graham Aims To Raise Retirement Age for Commercial Pilots

Proposed legislation would allow qualified pilots to stay two more years to age 67.

Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 01:21 PM ET

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U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is part of a group that has introduced legislation that would raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots from 65 to 67. [File photo: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and colleagues introduced the "Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act" to raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots from 65 to 67.
The legislation aims to address the severe and growing pilot shortage, which is cited as a cause for widespread flight cancellations.
The proposal is controversial, with proponents seeing it as a solution to industry woes, while opponents like the Air Line Pilots Association argue it's a misguided attempt that ignores issues of airline mismanagement and could pose safety risks.

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U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and a group of colleagues introduced legislation that would raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to 67 from 65. The proposed change is meant to help alleviate the pilot shortage that has led to waves of flight cancellations across the airline industry.

The announcement follows months of speculation that Graham was considering such a plan. Congress last raised the retirement age for commercial pilots, to 65 from 60, in 2007.