On Friday, Member States’ representatives in the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) Committee voted in favour of the proposed harmonisation of Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FTL) for pilots and cabin crew. This is an important cornerstone, since vast majority of the Member States expressed their support regarding the new rules.
European airlines have supported the harmonisation of Flight and Duty Time Limitations, which would maintain the utmost safety in European skies. EASA, an independent EU body under European law, conducted a lengthy rulemaking procedure with the involvement of all the parties concerned from National Authorities, airlines and trade unions. The outcome of this procedure has been acknowledged by the Member States and as a result, Europe will continue to have among the strictest FTL rules in world.
The heads of the airline associations AEA, ERA and IACA comment:
“This vote has once again confirmed that EASA submitted a balanced proposal. The new regulation, once adopted and implemented will create one common set of rules for the aviation market. There is no need for further evaluation of the proposal, therefore we call for the European Parliament and the European Council to adopt the regulation without any further delay.”