Washington Wire: Continental, TSA Launch Paperless Boarding Initiative

Continental Airlines is testing a new paperless boarding system in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration that allows passengers to electronically store boarding information on cell phones or personal digital assistants. The move, aimed at improving security by reducing the possible use of fraudulent boarding passes, also may improve customer service, the government and airline said. The technology works by transferring a paperless boarding pass containing a two-dimensional bar code that can be verified by TSA officials using handheld scanners to the passenger's electronic device. It is intended to counteract a potential security weakness with Internet checkin, as bar codes cannot be altered once they're sent to the phone or PDA. The TSA said the pilot program, which is being tested only on nonstop flights, is consistent with the global standard set by the International Air Transport Association requiring bar coding of boarding passes. If successful, it may be expanded to other airlines.

IRS Hikes 2008 Per-Mile Vehicle Reimbursement
The Internal Revenue Service next year will raise the allowable vehicle reimbursement rate to 50.5 cents per mile, which is the highest rate in history. The higher rate largely is attributed to growth in the cost of fuel and other vehicle expenses and is up from the 2007 rate of 48.5 cents per mile and the 2006 rate of 44.5 cents per mile.

House Approves Allowing Pilots to Fly Until 65
The U.S. House of Representatives last week adopted legislation that would let commercial airline pilots remain flying until age 65, provided there is a copilot under the age of 60 in the cockpit. Pilots currently must leave the cockpit at 60. The House voted unanimously in favor of the measure after stripping it from a broader bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been stalled by disagreements with the Senate. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the separate vote was necessary to prevent a rash of mandatory retirements of experienced pilots at the same time passenger loads are increasing. FAA forecasts that airlines are expected to carry more than 1 billion passengers by 2015, and that retirements among airline pilots will rise 173 percent from 2003 to 2008 compared with 1993 to 1998. "It is imperative that we move this critical piece of legislation immediately," Oberstar said in a Dec. 11 speech on the House floor. "Each day that passes without raising the retirement age to 65 means approximately five of our most experienced pilots will be forced to retire." FAA agreed to extend the mandatory retirement age earlier this year in keeping with international standards after heavy lobbying by Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, two low-cost carriers that don't have traditional pension plans that make it more expensive to employ pilots as they get older. FAA's change would have taken at least two years to implement, prompting the legislation. The bill next goes to the Senate, which has voted in favor of earlier versions of the measure as part of the stalled budget legislation.

GAO Criticizes FAA Runway Safety Efforts
The Government Accountability Office called on the Federal Aviation Administration to take strong steps to reduce the risk of a catastrophic airline collision after concluding the agency suffers from a lack of leadership and the absence of a national runway plan. GAO, in a study released Dec. 5, echoed similar findings by the National Transportation Safety Board and other watchdog groups that not enough is being done to make runways safer. While serious incidents declined, the overall incidence of near-collisions rose 12 percent to 371 last year, GAO said. GAO said FAA hasn't updated its runway plan in five years. "The lack of an updated plan has resulted in uncoordinated runway-safety efforts by individual FAA offices," GAO said. FAA said that runway safety remains a top priority. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over FAA, said the report shows FAA has "regressed" in terms of aviation safety. "Despite spending billions on runway safety over the last five years, the GAO found that the Federal Aviation Administration's lack of coordination and leadership, technology challenges, the lack of data and human factor-related issues have seriously hindered significant progress on runway safety," Oberstar said, adding that funding in a stalled FAA reauthorization bill would help the agency improve its goals.