Will new EU laws put air passengers' lives at risk?

Pilots' rest area on a Boeing Dreamliner. Photo: PA

Pilots have warned that new EU proposals to relax British flying rules could put air passengers' lives at risk.

The pilots' association, Balpa, will raise its concerns about the regulation that will allow them to land a plane after up to 22 hours at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, according to the report in the Guardian.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) is proposing to "harmonise safety rules across the continent", looking to create an EU policy later this year.

But Balpa says its plans are not as safe as the current British practise, and that changes to shift patterns and reduced crew requirements on certain long-haul flights could raise the chances of pilots falling asleep in the cockpit.

Balpa has therefore called on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to reject the proposals.

Jim McAuslan, Balpa general secretary, said the planned rules would, "contrary to scientific advice, allow pilots to do up to seven early starts in a row, which is desperately fatiguing.

"The government has to answer this question: 'Is it safe to land an aircraft after 22 hours?' If not, they need to reject these EU proposals now."

Rob Hunter, head of safety at Balpa, is also avidly against proposals to allow only two pilots instead of three on flights of up to 14 hours (up from 12), on long-haul flights to the west coast of America from London.

But a CAA spokesman told the Guardian: "Not every British citizen leaves on a British airline: many are flying to places with little flight-time limitation. Easa are looking to make the European baseline more restrictive – and in the pilots' favour."

He explained that the latest version of the proposals would incorporate European maximum working hours, as well as a new requirement making airlines legally responsible for managing any pilot fatigue.

"We are satisfied that, as a complete package, it provides an equivalent level of safety to the current regime. If you take Europe as a whole, for lots of pilots it will mean fewer hours."


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