The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has spoken out against an EASA proposal to change flight and duty time regulations for commercial pilots.
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has spoken out against an EASA proposal to change flight and duty time regulations for commercial pilots.
Jim McAuslan, BALPA General Secretary, said: “There are one or two improvements in this iteration of the rules but, by and large, these proposals are even worse than the previous draft.”
The organisation has said that the new rules could see pilots doing twice as many early starts in a row compared to current UK standards, being on duty fifteen per cent more over two weeks, flying longer than scientists say is safe, and spending thirty per cent longer on standby before being called for duty (meaning that they could be awake for over 24 hours).
Mr McAuslan added: “Let me be clear. This is not about pilots wanting to work less. The overall number of hours pilots will fly in a year will remain the same, but the distribution of those hours can be done in a safe, or unsafe way. The UK currently has the safest skies in Europe, but the Government seems ready to ditch all that in favour of harmonisation. Neither pilots nor the travelling public will understand the sense in that.
“We will be meeting the Transport Minister, Simon Burns, later this month. If he insists that the Government has to adopt these new rules, he must commit to ‘safety enhancements’ to cover black holes, which would otherwise be a safety reduction for the UK.”
