The FINANCIAL — European airline associations have joined forces once again to emphasise that harmonised Flight Time Limitation (FTL) rules ensure utmost safety in the air.
Tomorrow, flight and cabin crew unions are organising an EU-wide “Walkout for safety” to demonstrate against the proposed European rules for FTL and rest requirements. Pilot unions are claiming that European policy-makers will risk passengers’ safety by adopting the new regulation submitted by the European Aviation and Safety Agency (EASA) earlier this year.
However, airlines will never compromise on safety. The final proposed FTL rules are not a relaxation of today’s rules as the unions suggest. On the contrary, they harmonise the different FTL requirements that exist across Europe and even include some new and more restrictive requirements and limitations. EASA’s final proposals are the result of an extensive review involving all stakeholders including national safety regulators, airlines and trade unions, and are based on robust safety data including the review of almost 50 different scientific studies.
The Heads of the three airline associations, AEA, ERA and IACA highlight: “Based on the EASA proposal, Europe will continue to have one of the strictest FTL rules in the world. National Safety Regulators, for example, the UK Civil Aviation Authority, have welcomed the EASA proposal which, to a large extent, is equivalent to the current well proven UK CAP 371 rules. The adoption process of the final rules should therefore not be derailed as a result of misleading information.”
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