MEPs question Commission’s proposed pilot working time limits

Commission says the proposal would lower flight time limits in every member state.

The full European Parliament will vote in October on whether to approve or reject a European Commission proposal to standardise working time limits for pilots across the European Union, following a rejection by the Parliament’s transport committee on Monday (30 September).

The European Commission proposal was made under the EU’s ‘scrutiny’ procedure, which gives the Parliament and member states three months to accept or reject it. That period ends on 25 October. Had the transport committee approved the proposal, a full Parliament vote would not have been needed.

Pilots’ unions – including the European Cockpit Association (ECA), an umbrella organisation of national pilots unions – lobbied MEPs ahead of the vote saying that, rather than protecting pilots, the new rules would actually increase the amount of time pilots have to fly in some member states. “The proposed rules contain a large number of provisions that are counter to what scientific experts consider safe,” said Philip von Schöppenthau, ECA secretary-general. He claimed the result could be shifts of up to 22 hours.

But the Commission says the unions are distorting the proposal to push for even lower limits. No member state would see flying-time limits increase under this proposal, it insists. On the contrary, the proposal would lower flight time limits in every member state.

Siim Kallas, European commissioner for transport, said the committee vote “puts at risk key measures to improve aviation safety”. He added: “We need a debate based on facts, not based on misleading scare stories and false claims.”

Permanent proposals

Existing EU standards on flight-time limits were agreed eight years ago, but these were temporary and omitted important areas such as resting time and jetlag adjustment. The new proposal would make the standards permanent and increase harmonisation in the areas previously not covered.

The ECA produces the 22-hour figure by adding the proposal’s 14-hour daytime flight limit to its eight-hour standby limit. Currently standby time is not limited by the EU and varies widely. This combined ‘flying-plus-standby’ time currently reaches 26 hours in some member states.

The Commission argues the 22-hour figure is disingenuous because it is counting ‘at home’ standby time, during which pilots can sleep, as work. The new proposal says a combined ‘at airport’ standby and flight time cannot be more than 16 hours together.

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) is calling on the Parliament to back the Commission’s proposal. “The lack of harmonised FTL rules would mean that the current fragmented legislative framework would continue to apply,” said Athar Husain Khan, secretary-general of the AEA.

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