Aircraft cabin temperatures, long a source of passenger complaints but largely unregulated, will now be the subject of a federal safety study as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s latest reauthorization.
The FAA said it has contacted the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to begin investigating the subject, though it has yet to develop a full plan pending the study’s scope. The one-year study will examine the health and safety effects of minimum and maximum aircraft cabin temperatures on passengers and crew.
Airline cabin temperatures became a hot topic this summer amid record heat, and states like California expanded workplace safety regulations to protect indoor workers from rising temperatures. In September, a Politico investigation revealed that neither Delta Air Lines (DAL+0.83%), United Airlines (UAL+2.25%), nor Southwest Airlines (LUV-0.38%) had a maximum cabin temperature at the time that would prevent passengers from boarding. American Airlines (AAL-0.06%) allows cabin temperatures to reach 90 degrees before considering it too hot to board, while JetBlue (JBLU+3.18%) recently raised its threshold to 85 degrees from 80 degrees.
The study is part of the FAA’s broader oversight of cabin air quality, which currently requires airplane manufacturers to ensure passenger compartments are free from harmful concentrations of smoke, vapor, or toxic fumes. Airlines must maintain ventilation systems that supply about half a pound of fresh air per minute for each passenger – comparable to other public spaces.
The FAA already follows and participates in European Union Aviation Safety Agency research on cabin air quality and helps develop industry standards for addressing the cabin environment through various committees. The FAA will use the study’s findings to evaluate current industry standards for aircraft cabin temperatures and potentially develop new safety guidelines for airlines.
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