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The Federal Transportation Department announced new guidelines for airline safety on Wednesday. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters released new rules for airline fuel tanks in a bid to improve safety and avert the chances of a mid-air explosion on US airliners.

The decision was prompted by an explosion 12 years aboard TWA Flight 800 that killed all 230 people aboard. After a lengthy investigation of the accident, it was determined that fumes in the center fuel tank had ignited soon after take-off from New York. The new safety rules calls for device in the center fuel tanks of all new aircraft that will remove the dangerous fumes and replace them with inert nitrogen. The rule also requires airlines to retrofit 2,730 existing Airbus and Boeing passenger planes over the next nine years with the device.

Recommendations for the improvement were given to the airline industry back in 2005, but the major carriers rejected the idea, saying the costs were prohibitive but officials point out that the cost of installing the new technology would range from $92,000 to $311,000 per aircraft, or roughly one-tenth of 1 percent of the cost of a new plane.