Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin asked Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford to explain why updated airplane evacuation testing is nearly two years overdue and why the agency has allowed some airlines to reduce minimum flight attendant staffing on certain widebody flights.
In a letter obtained by CBS News, the Democrats said some approvals could leave more emergency exit doors than flight attendants during an evacuation. “Without a certified Flight Attendant positioned at every dual-aisle floor-level exit, passengers could be left vulnerable at precisely the moment they must rely on skilled, decisive guidance and rapid action from highly trained and certified Flight Attendants,” they wrote.
The senators said American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines had received Federal Aviation Administration approval to reduce staffing on some aircraft under rules requiring one flight attendant for every 50 passengers. They wrote that one flight attendant could be responsible for two doors as far as 19 feet apart.
The Federal Aviation Administration told CBS News it would respond directly to the lawmakers. The agency has said staffing requirements are based on maximum seating capacity and that airlines must complete evacuation demonstrations for each seating configuration.
Last year, the agency certified American’s 787-9P configuration with a minimum of seven flight attendants, though the plane has eight exit doors. American said it still assigned eight to 10 flight attendants depending on flight length, but the lower minimum allowed flights to operate if a crew member became unavailable during a trip.
The senators also sought an update on evacuation testing that Congress ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to complete within one year of the 2024 reauthorization law. That deadline passed in May 2025. The new testing was intended to replace 2019 tests that did not include scenarios involving carry-on luggage, children, older passengers, or disabled passengers.
“Almost two years after enactment, the report is still not complete,” the senators wrote.
Federal rules require aircraft to be evacuated within 90 seconds, though actual evacuations can take longer. After Japan Airlines Flight 516 collided with a coast guard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in 2024, passengers and crew took between 11 and 18 minutes to evacuate, according to the airline and the Japan Transport Safety Board.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it had completed the initial phase of its study and was working with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on research into seat pitch and seat width before finishing the report.