The FAA proposes to delete the list of what an airliner medical kit must contain and require instead that it cover nine conditions, with naloxone named as an option rather than an item
The list is going. In its place the FAA proposes a sentence: the contents of each first aid kit and emergency medical kit must be practical and sufficient for crewmembers to address the common emergency illnesses and accidents that happen on board.
Appendix A to part 121 would be removed and reserved, and a new section 121.807 would carry the performance requirement instead. The notice was filed on Tuesday morning under docket FAA-2026-9178, and comments are due 60 days after publication.
Congress asked for this. Section 368 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 directed the agency to propose a rule on kit equipment and crew training, and told it to weigh the costs and benefits of new medications or equipment for the needs of children and pregnant women, opioid overdose reversal, anaphylaxis and cardiac arrest, and to consider how far a kit should be usable by crew without a medical professional's approval first.
Nine conditions
The proposal frames the requirement around nine life-threatening conditions, drawn from a 2025 Aerospace Medical Association report. For each, the FAA lists the signs and symptoms and then names a treatment option.
Chest pain and cardiac emergencies, where the option named is aspirin. Airway and breathing emergencies, with an inhaled short-acting bronchodilator. Sudden impairment of consciousness such as a seizure, with antiepileptic medication. Major bleeding, with a commercial windlass-style tourniquet. Opioid overdose, with naloxone. Hypoglycaemia, with a dextrose-containing intravenous solution. Gastrointestinal emergencies, with an isotonic crystalloid solution and antiemetics. Anaphylaxis, with epinephrine. Childbirth, with a delivery kit.
The verb throughout is recommends, and the treatments are given as options that could be included. None of the nine names an item the rule would require.
Where the list actually goes
It does not disappear. The FAA has revised Advisory Circular 121-33 to carry a model list of medications and equipment, and AC 121-33C would replace both 121-33B and InFO 20001. The agency describes it as establishing one way, but not the only way, for an operator to comply.
Operators would use their safety management systems to monitor and adjust kit contents against the scope of their operation, their own medical event data and developments in medicine.
The problem being solved is a grounding problem
A complete emergency medical kit is a GO/NO-GO item under 121.803(a). One missing required medication therefore takes the aircraft out of service, and when a drug goes into shortage it takes every affected aircraft with it.
Airlines have been going to the FAA for relief. The notice records 14 exemptions granted since 2015 to address shortages, including two to Spirit Airlines last year, one to Ameristar Air Cargo, one to Aerodynamics, one to Vision Airlines, and two sought by trade associations on behalf of their members, one of which was exercised by 29 operators and the other by 19.
The FAA puts no dollar figure on any of this in its summary. It says operators would face minimal costs to add a few supplies, and that removing the exemption traffic would leave net savings for industry and for the agency.
