Bill 5047/20 democratizes seating for passengers whose height and weight are non-standard.
People who are very tall or overweight know how difficult and uncomfortable it is to sit in an aircraft. But the good news is that this discomfort will soon be over. Those whose size is non-standard can now be hopeful due to Bill 5047/20, a proposed law that will democratize seating in aircraft here in Brazil. Proposed by Congressman Marcelo Brum (PSL/RS), the bill obligates the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) to establish, within the deadline of one year, the minimum standards of comfort and safety for offering and placing seats.
The Bill determines that ANAC must establish a minimum number of special seats for people with non-standard height and weight, besides determining the distance between seats on the aircraft. According to the text of the bill, passengers, when purchasing tickets, must be informed by airlines of the disposition of places, the distance between seats, the width of seats, their inclination, and the number of special seats available, as well as the traditional inclination of seats on the aircraft.
According to Congressman Marcelo Brum (PSL-RS), the new coronavirus pandemic highlighted the problem, since there were many more complaints about the lack of space on aircraft, besides the proximity of the seats, which put at risk safety and compliance to Health protocols combatting the vírus. The idea, which should be revised every ten years, follows a worldwide tendency for the democratization of space in the air industry, and is also being discussed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the United States’ aviation agency, as the author reports.
“Not believing that the best solution for the problem is to define by law the parameters for the safe and healthy accommodation of passengers, we opted for the adoption of the solution chosen by the United States: giving to the regulatory agency the task of producing the norms relative to the subject”, said the Congressman in an interview for the Chamber News Agency.
