Growing Movement To Raise Limit To 65

Could the current crisis in airline pensions be the straw that breaks the camel's back when it comes to the Age 60 Rule?

The movement to increase the mandatory retirement age for commercial airline pilots from 60 to at least 65 has new urgency behind it, as one after the other, airlines attempt to roll back pilots' pension benefits or eliminate them altogether.

Some of the strongest support for increasing the mandatory retirement age comes from legislator-pilots like Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK). "We shouldn't have an age cutoff for pilots. It should be based on medical requirements and on proficiency requirements," he told the Wall Street Journal. Inhofe has introduced one of two bills in Congress to raise the pilot retirement age to the Social Security minimum, currently age 65.

But the FAA appears to be in no hurry to change the Age 60 Rule, which has been in effect since 1959. "To date, we have not seen any research that reassures us raising the retirement age would maintain safety or raise it," FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette told the Journal.

But then, that may be a losing battle for the FAA on more than one front. Consider the looming age-related shortage in air traffic controllers. The FAA is considering changing the mandated retirement age of controllers from 58 to 61. And EU countries are now considering raising the age limit for flight crews to 65.

FMI: www.faa.gov