Regulatory Alert: AAAE Supports DOT Proposal to Limit New Mandates in Guidance Documents
June 17, 2025
Yesterday, AAAE expressed support to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for a proposed rule that would implement department policies and procedures to govern the issuance of new regulations and guidance documents by its operating administrations, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The proposal is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to advance deregulation and make it more difficult for the department and FAA to impose new regulatory requirements on industry stakeholders, including airport sponsors.In our letter, we expressed support for DOT’s proposed framework that would preclude FAA from issuing a new regulation without, among other things, (a) considering reasonable alternatives that could eliminate the need for the regulation, and (b) ensuring the benefits of any new regulation exceed its costs (absent a compelling safety need). In addition, AAAE supported a DOT proposal that would preclude guidance documents from imposing new mandates on industry stakeholders. We further recommended that DOT ensure any new FAA guidance documents are subject to an economic cost impact analysis and should not be issued if the expected costs from the guidance would exceed its benefits.
You can read our letter here. DOT’s proposal is consistent with AAAE’s “Commonsense Recommendations for Regulatory Reform” where we urged DOT and FAA to not conduct rulemaking or impose any new mandates through guidance documents, such as CertAlerts or advisory circulars.
Background. In May, DOT released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would codify the administration’s policies and procedural requirements governing the internal review and issuance of new regulations and guidance documents. The proposal would establish procedural safeguards and set expectations for its operating administrations, including FAA, on rulemaking initiatives and guidance development. Similar policies and procedures were implemented under the first Trump administration, but the Biden administration repealed them in 2021.
AAAE’s Comments. AAAE supported two major components of DOT’s proposed rule. First, in order to conduct a rulemaking and issue a new regulation, FAA would have to consider more reasonable alternatives, provide the appropriate amount of notice and comment period, and only proceed if the expected benefits of the regulation would exceed its costs. Second, FAA guidance documents would be precluded from containing any “mandatory language, such as ‘shall,’ ‘must,’ ‘required,’ or ‘requirement,’” unless it is describing an established statutory or regulatory requirement.
While expressing our support, we had three major recommendations for DOT:
- Clarify that all FAA guidance documents—not just those that require review at the DOT level—may not impose any new mandates or requirements on industry stakeholders;
- Clarify that any FAA “reinterpretation” of statutory grant obligations falls within the scope of “guidance documents” that must meet the safeguards and procedural requirements established by the department. As airport sponsors are aware, FAA has traditionally used grant obligations as a means of imposing new mandates on sponsors, a practice we have opposed; and
- Ensure that all FAA guidance documents (a) are subject to an economic cost impact analysis and (b) only released if the benefits from the new guidance would exceed its expected costs. This is the same policy that DOT proposed for FAA to implement any new regulations.
