Safe Air on Airplanes Act

Key Points

• This bill would ban new airplane designs from using bleed air systems, which pull compressed air from the engine to ventilate the cabin. The FAA would have to update its regulations within six months of the bill becoming law.
• For planes already in production, manufacturers would have 7 years to install filters that clean oil fumes and particulate matter out of the bleed air before passengers breathe it.
• The bill sets a 30-year phase-out schedule: 25% of newly manufactured planes must be bleed-air-free within 10 years, 50% within 20 years, and 100% within 30 years.
• A bleed air system is defined as one that takes compressed air from an aircraft engine upstream of the combustion chamber and uses it for cabin ventilation that passengers or crew could breathe in. The concern is that engine oil fumes can sometimes leak into this air supply, causing health problems.