Sponsors (3)
The bill forces airlines to create and share confidential resiliency and cybersecurity plans—improving preparedness and oversight and potentially reducing future disruptions—but it primarily mandates planning (not immediate operational fixes), imposes compliance costs, and leaves some risk of sensitive information exposure.
Airline passengers and other travelers will likely face fewer and less severe travel disruptions because carriers must develop and regularly update resiliency strategies for weather, staffing, and IT issues.
Transportation workers and travelers benefit from strengthened airline cybersecurity and IT preparedness, reducing the risk of system outages that cause widespread delays and cancellations.
Covered carriers and regulators gain a safer environment for sharing sensitive operational details and access to oversight data—confidentiality protections encourage candid planning while a GAO audit and report give Congress and regulators information to assess industry preparedness and guide future policy.
Passengers and transportation workers may not see immediate reductions in disruptions because the requirement is largely planning and reporting rather than mandated operational changes or guaranteed funding.
Covered carriers will face new compliance costs to develop and regularly update detailed resiliency plans, which could be passed on to consumers as higher fares or reduce carrier investment in other areas.
Covered carriers risk exposure of sensitive vulnerability information—despite confidentiality protections there is residual risk that operational details could be disclosed or misused.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires covered carriers to create and update operational resiliency strategies within one year and mandates a GAO audit and report on those strategies.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Transportation to require certain air carriers to develop and regularly update an operational resiliency strategy, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 17, 2025 by Richard Ray Larsen · Last progress May 17, 2025
Requires major airlines (covered carriers) to develop and keep updated an operational resiliency strategy within one year to reduce passenger harms from flight disruptions. The Department of Transportation must protect submitted confidential business information, and the Government Accountability Office will audit those strategies within three years and report findings to relevant congressional committees.