PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 24, 2025
Pacific Island Flight Alternatives Act of 2025 or PIFAA
This bill allows authorized foreign aircraft to pick up and drop off passengers and cargo in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands on international flights to or from other places in the United States. Authorized aircraft are those registered to a foreign air carrier from Japan, the Philippines, or South Korea.
Current law prohibits foreign air carriers from transporting passengers or cargo between places in the United States, with exceptions.
The bill deems that passengers or cargo that are added to or removed from authorized foreign aircraft in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands on a flight that is traveling between another place in the United States and an international location have not broken the international journey, thus allowing authorized foreign aircraft to transport passengers and cargo between Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands and other places in the United States on such flights.
People & committees
Del. Moylan, James C. [R-GU-At Large] · R–GU
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: May 3, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-24 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Pacific Island Flight Alternatives Act of 2025 would give qualifying foreign airlines a special rule for international trips involving Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands. Adding or removing passengers or cargo there would not count as breaking the aircraft’s international journey under a referenced federal provision. The rule would cover qualifying airlines from Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
This Act may be cited as the Pacific Island Flight Alternatives Act of 2025 or PIFAA .
For purposes of subsection (c), passengers or cargo added to or removed from an authorized Pacific aircraft at a place in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands in the course of transportation of such passengers or cargo in either direction between a place in the United States and a place outside the United States shall not be deemed to have broken the international journey of such authorized Pacific aircraft.
the term authorized Pacific aircraft means an aircraft registered to a foreign air carrier from Japan, Philippines, or the Republic of Korea that holds a permit under section 41302.
The bill’s findings attribute expensive flights from Guam to the Northern Mariana Islands or Hawaii to limited airline competition. They also describe airlines from Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea as supplementing gaps in U.S. airline service. These are the bill’s stated reasons for the proposal, not evidence that it would lower fares.
(1) Limited air competition has made flights from Guam to the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands or to Hawaii exceedingly expensive.
(4) The nations of Japan, Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and the air carriers of such nations have been vital in supplementing deficiencies of United States air carriers when flying between the United States and other Pacific Islands.
The bill would add subsection (f) to 49 U.S.C. § 41703. For purposes of that section’s subsection (c), loading or unloading passengers or cargo in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands would not break a qualifying aircraft’s international journey. This treatment would apply during transportation in either direction between a U.S. location and a location outside the United States.
Section 41703 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (f) Air commerce in Guam and Northern Mariana Islands
For purposes of subsection (c), passengers or cargo added to or removed from an authorized Pacific aircraft at a place in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands in the course of transportation of such passengers or cargo in either direction between a place in the United States and a place outside the United States shall not be deemed to have broken the international journey of such authorized Pacific aircraft.
An aircraft would qualify only if registered to a foreign airline from Japan, the Philippines, or South Korea that holds a permit under 49 U.S.C. § 41302. The proposal therefore ties eligibility to both the airline’s country and its permit status.
In this subsection, the term authorized Pacific aircraft means an aircraft registered to a foreign air carrier from Japan, Philippines, or the Republic of Korea that holds a permit under section 41302.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated May 3, 2026, records introduction in the House and referrals to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Aviation Subcommittee on February 24, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-05-03T23:19:16Z. 2025-02-24: Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation. 2025-02-24: Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. 2025-02-24: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-24. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents of other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; earmark disclosures and accompanying committee materials were not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied introduced text contains a narrowly defined eligibility rule for favorable regulatory treatment. This classification does not establish whether that treatment is justified.
Aircraft registered to permit-holding foreign airlines from Japan, the Philippines, or South Korea would receive special treatment when loading or unloading passengers or cargo in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands during qualifying international transportation. Those stops would not break the aircraft’s international journey for purposes of subsection (c). This country-specific eligibility restriction is part of the bill’s central policy.
For purposes of subsection (c), passengers or cargo added to or removed from an authorized Pacific aircraft at a place in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands in the course of transportation of such passengers or cargo in either direction between a place in the United States and a place outside the United States shall not be deemed to have broken the international journey of such authorized Pacific aircraft.
In this subsection, the term authorized Pacific aircraft means an aircraft registered to a foreign air carrier from Japan, Philippines, or the Republic of Korea that holds a permit under section 41302.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: May 3, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI