By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A bipartisan group of three U.S. senators including Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday to support international efforts to raise the mandatory pilot retirement age.

In 2023, Congress rejected a push to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. International rules prevent airline pilots older than 65 from flying in most countries outside the U.S.

The Air Line Pilots Association has opposed raising the retirement age and said such a move could cause airline scheduling and pilot training issues and also require reopening pilot contract talks.

The group of senators is led by Marsha Blackburn and includes her fellow Republican Thune and Democrat Mark Kelly.

“Raising or eliminating the pilot retirement age — coupled with the existing rigorous technical and medical testing that pilots undergo — would result in a reduction of accidents by closing the experience gap and retaining the greatest level of experience our passengers expect on the flight deck,” said the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed by Reuters.

They urged Rubio to advocate at the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations, for hiking the retirement age.

“If the United States cedes our leadership role in this space on the international stage, China — who is presently and

actively joining our partners to advocate for raising the pilot retirement age — will gladly fill that void,” the senators wrote.

The State Department did not immediately comment.

The U.S. mission to ICAO in Montreal has been without an ambassador since Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the commercial airline pilot who safely landed an Airbus A320 on New York’s Hudson River in 2009, stepped down in July 2022. Former President Joe Biden nominated former Florida Governor Charlie Christ to the post in 2023, but he was not confirmed.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)