AEA: European Airlines call on the European Parliament to support the credibility of the European aviation safety system

At the European Parliament Plenary Session in Strasbourg this week, the Members of the European Parliament will be voting on a motion of the Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN) opposing the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) final proposal on Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FTL) for pilots and cabin crew.

The EASA FTL proposal is the result of nearly five years of work by safety professionals involving all stakeholders and based on the review of nearly 50 different scientific studies. Based on this proposal, Europe will continue to have the strictest FTL rules in the world, even stricter than today’s rules. The EASA proposal was already endorsed by all national safety regulators in the EU and the Member States. Regretfully, on 30 September, the TRAN Committee’s motion was adopted to oppose this final proposal.

“AEA is deeply concerned about this motion, which is damaging the reputation of all EU safety professionals, including EASA itself as well as all national safety regulators, based on false and incorrect information” said Mr Athar Husain Khan, acting Secretary General of AEA. As it is clearly stated in the European Commission’s Press release, the EASA proposal will benefit EU passengers based on the creation of one set of FTL rules for the common EU aviation market based on the highest safety standards. “AEA therefore calls on the EP Plenary Session to reject the TRAN Committee’s motion opposing EASA’s FTL proposal and support the credibility of the European aviation safety system”.