European pilots protest new EU rules :: 05/10/2009 :: Airport Parking News
Pilots claim increases in work hours will lead to danger of fatigue
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European pilots protest new EU rules
Monday, 5th October 2009
European pilots have come up with a novel way of protesting against - and spreading awareness about - the increases in work hours as proposed by the European Union authorities.
The European pilots are now handing out dummy tickets containing literature about their protests at several airports across Europe. The pilots are doubly concerned by the proposed new rules, because they claim the current set of rules do not adequately help to control the dangers of pilot-fatigue in the first place. These current restrictions on maximum hours may soon be affected by weaker guidelines from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
A recent scientific study commissioned by the EU itself, the Moebus report, recommended stricter European rules, on the premise that the current guidelines do not effectively protect pilots from fatigue.
The UK, which, like some other European nations has its own national guidelines, is keen not to see these diluted. Britain's restrictions on maximum hours for pilots are much stronger than those recommended by the EASA, and pilots are concerned that when the jurisdiction for rules moves to Europe in 2012, UK-registered planes would lose their British guidelines.
British pilots will join their counterparts from the rest of Europe to protest the new, even-laxer rules, and to push for the European commission to improve current regulations. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) has accused the EU of "sitting on its hands" after the EU was seen to be ignoring the recommendations in the Moebus report.
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