Washington — The Federal Aviation Administration has delayed by one year the compliance date for a final rule that requires a secondary cockpit barrier on new commercial aircraft.
The new compliance date is Aug. 25, 2026. According to a statement from the agency, the delay “will allow time to facilitate FAA certification and install the barriers.”
Mandated by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, the rule went into effect in August 2023. It states that installed physical secondary barriers, or IPSBs, will slow potential attacks “long enough so that an open flight deck door can be closed and locked before an attacker could reach the flight deck.”
Aircraft manufactured before the effective date won’t need to be retrofitted with secondary barriers.
In May, Airlines for America, a trade association that represents U.S. passenger airlines and cargo carriers, petitioned FAA to postpone the compliance date by two years. The association wrote that it believes “current flight deck security processes have demonstrated their effectiveness and are considered to provide an equivalent level of safety.”
Additionally, the petition expressed concern with implementation deadlines and a lack of certified IPSBs or approved training programs.
In a press release, Jason Ambrosi, president of Air Line Pilots, International, said the latest delay is “deeply disappointing and undermines our nation’s aviation security.”
He added: “This pattern of endless delays must stop. Airlines have had ample time – two full years – to comply with this congressionally mandated safety requirement, yet once again, they are shirking their responsibility to implement this critical safety measure.”
