'And as we've seen too often recently, they are on the front lines of responding to unruly passengers who could threaten the safety of the flight and other passengers,' he said. 'Flight attendants are trained to take action during emergencies, administer first aid, conduct evacuations, (and) manage medical emergencies. 'As any pilot can tell you, we cannot fly the plane without the safety expertise and support of flight attendants,' Nolen added. 'I can tell you firsthand that well-rested crew members are important to safety,' said acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen, a former airline pilot, in announcing the signing of the new rule at a news conference at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. When factoring in travel time to and from airports and overnight accommodations, that can leave flight attendants working on as little as five or six hours of sleep. The announcement of the extra hour of rest comes after a rough two-and-a-half years for flight attendants, who have had to deal with a sharp increase in unruly passenger incidents during the pandemic, including a rising number of verbal and physical attacks on them.Ĭurrent rules require airlines to give flight attendants at least nine hours of rest in between shifts, but it can be as little as eight hours in certain circumstances. Airlines will need to provide flight attendants with at least 10 hours of rest time in between work shifts, the same as amount of time as pilots, under a new rule announced Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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