The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a rule clarifying that federal regulations governing duty and rest periods preempt state and local meal and rest break requirements.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), “Ensuring Passenger Safety by Preempting Duty and Rest Requirements,” asserts that state or local laws on these matters are not applicable to employees serving on aircraft since FAA has sole authority to regulate aviation safety, including hours of service for pilots, flight attendants and other employees. While the NPRM currently addresses part 121 operations, employees of part 135 air charter and fractional programs operating under part 91 subpart K are also impacted by developing state actions in this area.
The FAA must maintain sole authority to determine appropriate work and rest requirements for employees on duty in an aircraft. A uniform federal framework for aviation safety and operations is essential to system safety; differing state and local meal and rest break rules create operational complexity, disrupt crew scheduling, and conflict with federal requirements that crew members are available to perform their duties during flight operations.
NATA is closely reviewing the NPRM and will coordinate with affected members on comments, due September 4, 2026.