A major legislation aimed at modernising air traffic system, increasing safety supervision and improving customer service in the United States has met with failure in the Senate.

The debate on the legislation, the Aviation Investment and Modernisation Act, intended to make the skies safer and more passenger-friendly, was stopped after Senators wrangled over attempts to include unrelated measures in the legislation, the US media has reported.

The US Senate stopped debate on legislation to fund and overhaul the country’s aviation system after most Republicans joined to obstruct an effort to move the Bill forward, the newspaper Los Angels Times reported. The Republicans’ complaint was that they were “barred from freely offering amendments.”

Leaders of both Republican and Democrat parties fought over rules for offering amendments, ultimately failing to reach an agreement.

Democrats tried to cut off the debate, but they did not succeed in getting the 60 votes necessary to proceed with the Aviation Investment and Modernisation Act. The final vote was 49 to 42 – 11 short of the 60 needed.

According to Los Angels Times, the Senate vote could stop action on the legislation in 2008.

Interestingly, the legislation was stalled in the Senate despite wide bipartisan support for the main goals of the Bill – which include modernising the United States’ antiquated air traffic control system, making the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) more accountable for the safety of planes and airports, and protecting passengers from the inconveniences caused by lengthy flight delays.

The Aviation Investment and Modernisation Act stipulate the following, among others:

* Airlines would be required to come up with a plan to provide adequate food, water and restroom facilities in the event of a significant delay. If airlines do not have a Transportation Department-approved plan, they would have to allow passengers to get off the plane after three hours sitting on a tarmac unless the pilot believes the flight will depart within 30 minutes.
* The legislation requires inspectors of the Federal Aviation Administration to verify that airlines carry out required safety checks, aimed at preventing a repeat of recent occurrences such as American Airlines cancelling flights affecting 250,000 passengers to catch up with safety work and accusations that FAA officials ignored maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines.
* It would have barred an FAA safety inspector who goes to work for an airline from having contacts with the FAA for two years.
* The Bill also envisaged increased funding for airport improvements and to sustain the availability of flights to smaller communities and to rural areas.

Soon after the Senate took up the Bill, Republicans opposed the “non-aviation” revenue provisions in the Bill. These provisions included about $5 billion to replenish the depleted Highway Trust Fund in 2009, around $1.7 billion that New York was promised after the 9/11 attacks, and $1 billion in tax credit bonds for rail infrastructure.

Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) charged that Democrats “bogged down the legislation with extraneous provisions that have nothing to do with aviation safety.”

The House of Representatives had passed its version of the Bill in September 2007.

At this juncture, with the Bill on hold, US Congress may have to extend temporarily the programmes of the Federal Aviation Administration at current, less-generous funding levels, according to analysts.