On February 16, 2024, the FAA issued a final rule requiring aircraft to comply with fuel efficiency requirements set by EPA for certain airplanes. (89 Fed. Reg. 12634, Feb. 16, 2024) The rules apply to three broad categories of airplanes: (1) airplanes produced under a new type certificate issued by the FAA after January 11, 2021, (2) airplanes that are newly manufactured after January 1, 2028 (regardless of the date of type certification); and (3) certain airplanes that are modified in ways that meet specified change criteria. These aircraft must comply with EPA’s regulations at 40 C.F.R. part 1300. Implementing these standards fulfills the United States’ obligations to meet the 2017 International Civil Aviation Organization’s carbon dioxide emissions limits promulgated under the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation
On June 15, 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration published a notice of proposed rulemaking for creating fuel efficiency requirements for certification of certain airplanes. The rulemaking is intended to ensure compliance with EPA’s airplane emission standards for greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. FAA states that because the EPA standard applies to airplanes certificated in the United States even in the absence of the FAA rule, the FAA proposal does not have any incremental benefits, but that it will result in cost savings by enabling U.S. manufacturers to certificate to the EPA standard rather than a foreign authority.