Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Disclosure Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4374 To amend title 49, United States Code, to require air carriers to disclose information on aircraft maintenance, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Mr. ZELDIN, and Mr. CISNEROS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to require air car- riers to disclose information on aircraft maintenance, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aircraft Maintenance 4 Outsourcing Disclosure Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON AIR- 6 CRAFT MAINTENANCE. 7 Chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code, is 8 amended by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4374 IH ‘‘§ 44741. Disclosure of information on recent aircraft 1 maintenance 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 1 3 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad- 4 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 5 require an air carrier providing scheduled passenger or 6 cargo air transportation to disclose publicly the aircraft 7 maintenance practices of the air carrier, as described in 8 this section. 9 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION ON PASSENGER AIRCRAFT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An air carrier providing 11 scheduled air transportation to passengers shall pro- 12 vide, in the manners described in paragraph (2)— 13 ‘‘(A) the specific location where the air- 14 craft providing scheduled air transportation 15 most recently underwent heavy maintenance; 16 and 17 ‘‘(B) the date of such maintenance. 18 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—The infor- 19 mation described in paragraph (1) shall be promi- 20 nently displayed in clear and plain language and in 21 an easily readable font size on, to the greatest extent 22 practicable, tickets or electronic passenger boarding 23 documents. 24 ‘‘(3) FLEET MAINTENANCE FOR SCHEDULED 25 FLIGHTS.—An air carrier providing scheduled air 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4374 IH transportation to passengers shall disclose the per- 1 centage of airframes in the fleet of the air carrier 2 typically assigned to each specific route that are 3 maintained in the United States and the percentage 4 of such airframes maintained abroad, including the 5 3 most common countries in which such airframes 6 are maintained abroad, listed by workhours. Such 7 information shall be— 8 ‘‘(A) made available, to the greatest extent 9 practicable, on— 10 ‘‘(i) the air carrier’s publicly acces- 11 sible website accompanying each scheduled 12 flight; 13 ‘‘(ii) the air carrier’s publicly acces- 14 sible website at the point of ticket pur- 15 chase; and 16 ‘‘(iii) the electronic confirmation of a 17 ticket purchase sent by the air carrier or 18 ticket agent; 19 ‘‘(B) communicated clearly prior to the 20 point of ticket purchase on the air carrier tele- 21 phone reservation system, upon request by the 22 passenger and to the greatest extent prac- 23 ticable; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Sep 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4374 IH ‘‘(C) communicated clearly to an individual 1 purchasing a ticket by an airline representative 2 at a ticket counter, upon request by the pas- 3 senger and to the greatest extent practicable. 4 ‘‘(c) GENERAL DISCLOSURE OF HEAVY MAINTE- 5 NANCE FOR ENTIRE FLEET.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An air carrier providing 7 scheduled passenger or cargo air transportation shall 8 display on the publicly accessible website of the air 9 carrier a list of— 10 ‘‘(A) all of the specific locations where air- 11 craft in its fleet have undergone heavy mainte- 12 nance in the past 3 years, listed by total 13 workhours; and 14 ‘‘(B) all of the specific locations where 15 heavy maintenance is carried out for the air 16 carrier under an existing contract. 17 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION.—The 18 information described in paragraph (1) shall be— 19 ‘‘(A) prominently displayed in clear and 20 plain language and in an easily readable font 21 size; and 22 ‘‘(B) updated regularly and appropriately. 23 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Sep 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4374 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 1 the date of enactment of this section, and annually 2 thereafter, each air carrier shall submit to the Ad- 3 ministrator (by uploading such information to the 4 online repository established under paragraph (2)) a 5 report containing— 6 ‘‘(A) a minimum of 1 year of maintenance 7 history, including line maintenance, for each 8 aircraft that has operated in scheduled pas- 9 senger or cargo air transportation during the 10 previous year; 11 ‘‘(B) the percentage and total number of 12 mechanics carrying out maintenance on aircraft 13 for the air carrier during the previous year who 14 are employees and who are not employees of the 15 air carrier; 16 ‘‘(C) the percentage and total number of 17 mechanics certified by the Federal Aviation Ad- 18 ministration carrying out maintenance on air- 19 craft for the air carrier during the previous 20 year who are based and who are not based in 21 the United States; 22 ‘‘(D) the percentage and total number of 23 mechanics, regardless of certification, carrying 24 out maintenance on aircraft for the air carrier 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4374 IH during the previous year who are based and 1 who are not based in the United States; 2 ‘‘(E) the percentage and total number of 3 mechanics carrying out maintenance on aircraft 4 for the air carrier during the previous year who 5 are certified and who are not certified by the 6 Federal Aviation Administration; and 7 ‘‘(F) other information provided by the air 8 carrier regarding maintenance, safety, and the 9 aircraft fleet of the carrier that is of interest to 10 the traveling public, as determined appropriate 11 by the Administrator. 12 ‘‘(2) REPORT DISCLOSURE.—The Administrator 13 shall establish an online repository for information 14 submitted under paragraph (1) that— 15 ‘‘(A) allows an air carrier to electronically 16 upload the data required to be submitted under 17 paragraph (1); and 18 ‘‘(B) makes the data submitted by an air 19 carrier publicly accessible on the website of the 20 Federal Aviation Administration. 21 ‘‘(e) HEAVY MAINTENANCE DEFINED.—In this sec- 22 tion, the term ‘heavy maintenance’ has the meaning given 23 the term in section 44733(g).’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4374 IH SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 1 (a) SECTION 44737.—Chapter 447 of title 49, United 2 States Code, is amending by redesignating the second sec- 3 tion 44737 (as added by section 581 of the FAA Reau- 4 thorization Act of 2018) as section 44740. 5 (b) ANALYSIS.—The analysis for chapter 447 of title 6 49, United States Code, is amended— 7 (1) by striking the item relating to the second 8 section 44737 (as added by section 581 of the FAA 9 Reauthorization Act of 2018); and 10 (2) by inserting after section 44739 the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘44740. Special rule for certain aircraft operations. ‘‘44741. Disclosure of information on recent aircraft maintenance.’’. (c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN AIRCRAFT OPER- 13 ATIONS.—Section 44740 of title 49, United States Code, 14 (as redesignated by subsection (a)) is amended— 15 (1) in the heading, by striking the period at the 16 end; 17 (2) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ‘‘chapter’’ 18 and inserting ‘‘section’’; 19 (3) in subsection (b)(1) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ the 20 second place it appears; and 21 (4) in subsection (c)(2) by adding a period at 22 the end. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4374.IH H4374 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS