Public

Airline pilots’ employment and working conditions have been the focus of various European studies in the past. While most studies explore how new business models affect crews’ employment terms and conditions, little has been done to map the safety impact stemming from these changes. To fill this gap, this new survey is initiated by the Karolinska Institute – a renowned research-led medical university – aimed at airline pilots from across Europe.

The survey is a part of an ongoing research project on ‘sustainable flight safety’ – linking socioeconomic aspects, health and safety. In an earlier study, called “High flying risks” (2018), Karolinska Institute analysed the link between airline companies’ safety climate, working conditions and flight safety. Today, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to continue and deepen this research.

This survey therefore aims to collect data on European pilots’ employment and working conditions, health/fatigue and experiences regarding flight safety in the ramp-up following the COVID-19 pandemic. Your participation is crucial to gain knowledge of what pilots’ working conditions look like today, and how the work environment and aviation safety can be concretely improved. 

The survey will be launched 9 March 2022, and will run for four weeks.

The ETF, EFFAT, UNI Europa, IndustriAll Europe and ECA welcome the Toulouse Declaration on future sustainability and decarbonisation in aviation, which was adopted on 4 February 2022 the Aviation Summit under the French presidency of the Council of the EU.  

The resilience of air transport in the context of the health crisis, the reduction of the sector’s carbon footprint and the technological and social impact of these challenges were broadly debated during the two-day flagship event for aviation of the French Presidency.

Speaking on behalf of all worker organisations at the Summit, ETF General Secretary, Livia Spera welcomed the ambitious aims of the Declaration and the recognition of the need for systemic change in the aviation sector. Still, we insist on the need to advance the social and environmental sustainability agenda in parallel. Workers across the aviation ecosystem have been at the forefront of this pandemic. 

These workers have worked hard to ensure the general public’s safety and to ensure Europe remains connected, despite all the challenges and risks they have faced. Now it is time to prove to them that we all respect their work and their sacrifices and will create a fairer industry for them. An aviation industry with no precarious work and no social malpractices – such as pay-to-fly schemes, broker agency set-ups or bogus self-employment – but with fair pay, free access to join a trade union, and making sure they benefit from meaningful and inclusive social dialogue at all stages.

Airlines, pilots and environmental groups are teaming up for the first time to support a European Union plan for big increases in climate-friendly jet fuels.

Major carriers including Air France-KLM, easyJet and Ryanair have joined forces with prominent non-governmental organisations such as Transport & Environment in a “Fuelling Flight Initiative” meant to help advance a key draft EU law.

The legislative proposal from the European Commission would spur aviation’s take-up of renewable energy, which so far has developed much more slowly in this industry than in others including automotive and power.

The Commission’s ReFuelEU Aviation proposal would ensure that the share of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) used in the bloc grows from almost nothing currently to at least 2% in 2025, 5% in 2030 and — after subsequent five-year steps — 63% in 2050. 

These SAF targets are known as blending mandates. They would cover advanced biofuels, which exclude traditional types that risk competing with food production. 

Within the proposed SAF targets, the draft law would also guarantee minimum amounts for synthetic aviation fuels, a type of renewable energy of non-biological origin with especially high emission-savings potential compared to fossil aviation fuel (ie, kerosene).

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) and the European Cockpit Association (ECA) are highly concerned with the situation of heightened tensions in Eastern Europe.

The situation appears comparable to that of summer 2014, which led to the tragic downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.

In hindsight, we know that in 2014, both the open and closed source intelligence information were far from accurate. The risk of misidentification was underestimated, and for these and other reasons, many risk assessments resulted in a false sense of security which led to the decision to continue to overfly the area.

The current situation now expands over a much larger area. IFALPA and ECA are extremely concerned that the same false sense of security might arise again. They call on States and operators to carefully consider the lessons that should have been learned from MH17. States should not hesitate to take appropriate measures, such as closing down their own airspace or banning the overflight of high-risk areas.

In case of doubt, always choose the safest option. The safety and security of the passengers and crew should be of paramount importance.

Two years ago – in June 2019 – I attended the joint EASA/FAA Conference in Cologne on behalf of ECA. My mission: find out how aircraft certification would evolve after the two fatal crashes and subsequent grounding of the B737MAX. I was only one of the few pilots present, attending along with aircraft manufacturers (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, ATR…) or OEMs (Honeywell, Thales, Rockwell-Collins…) curious to see what new requirements they would face in the future. To be honest, I didn’t get much additional information on the MAX than what was publicly available since most of the discussions between regulators and the manufacturer were probably held behind closed doors. But what I learned about the efforts on Reduced Crew Operations (RCO) was appalling.

Hundreds of millions of Euros are being spent on autonomous flight research as was confirmed by Filipe Verhaeghe (CEO UNMANNED) during the Man vs. Machine webinar, organised by BeCA earlier this year. Sure, we have seen rapid advances in drone technology over the last decade and it is nice to know that these things have a homing function in case of malfunction, but I am talking passenger aircraft. Pushed by the need for improved urban mobility, companies like Volocopter already have flying prototypes and just obtained prerequisite EASA approval for production. 

Just before the start of the pandemic the European Commission changed the requirements that the EU Member States must fulfill before a crew or airport identification card may be issued. There are two major changes that may have important consequences for crew. They will enter into force from the beginning of 2022.

The first change is that the national authority issuing the identification card will now be required not only to check the corresponding criminal record but also to cover intelligence and any other relevant information available to them. The intelligence element could sound like an intriguing requirement in terms of what states will be looking at exactly. Typically, states want to be able to check what you have been up to for the last five years (or even more in some cases) starting from the point when the procedure for obtaining a security clearance based on a ‘clear’ background check is launched. Meaning that they want documentary evidence about that complete period (5 years or more) to support your statement about your history.

Since January 19, 2022, I have no idea what behavior the Radar Altimeters on board of the airplane I fly will show when flying in the USA. It could either fail, generate no data or even worse, create erroneous data which will be used by other aircraft systems. Pilots, just like myself, could be presented with the wrong flight altitude and unexpected behavior of other flight control systems. This all as a result of the rollout of 5G in the USA.

A lot has already been written and said about the issue. In the USA, the band used for 5G within the communication spectrum is between 3.7 – 3.98 Ghz. The buffer is 220 Mhz with the frequencies used in the aviation industry (4.2-4.4 Ghz). In Europe, this buffer is larger because 5G in Europe uses the band 3.3 – 3.8 Ghz. Nevertheless, EASA is still paying attention to the issue and participating in studies on the effect of 5G on aviation safety. 

Attracting women to the piloting profession is challenging but retaining them is even more difficult, despite ongoing efforts. Stakeholders in the aviation industry must focus on inclusion and work to remove existing barriers that preclude women from seeking careers in aviation. Now is the time to encourage women pilots to participate in training, leadership, and committee roles and provide a diverse perspective and voice at the table.

IFALPA published a new Position Paper Women in Aviation: Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter, created by IFALPA’s Female Pilot Working Group (FPWG), that Captain Pia Meyer, Captain Camilla Tsan and Captain Stella van den Beukel are part of on behalf of the ALPL.

If you think the debate about ‘masks’ vs. ‘no masks’ during the pandemic was heated, gear up for the next episode: vaccine mandates. In the US and several other countries across the world, vaccine mandates are introduced as a way of boosting vaccination levels. Unsurprisingly, those ideas have reached Europe. Over the past weeks, we saw Swiss and Wizz Air, following the steps of Qantas and airlines in North America, announcing the introduction of mandatory vaccination for their crew. 

Their line of argument is: Some countries have introduced mandatory vaccination and immigration requirements for travelers and crew. It makes it impossible for us to plan our operations if our crew are not fully jabbed. 

Don’t get me wrong – I got my vaccine in May. There is no doubt that vaccines are a safe and effective way to prevent many diseases. COVID-19 is no different. A high vaccination rate will keep the virus at bay, and we all want to put this pandemic behind us, once and for all. However, vaccination mandates’ raison d’être is to protect the public health by stopping the spread of contagious diseases. It is not a tool to facilitate roster or operations planning. 

“BM8LT Cleared for Landing rwy 15 !” On 22 February 2020 it was the last time that I heard this sentence. 

This is an article published by the European Cockpit Association (ECA) on their website, providing some interesting views of what most of Europe’s pilots have to endure in this pandemic.

My Name is Marco and I was a First Officer flying on Boeing 737. I lost my job because of the COVID crisis. Today, I not only struggle to find a job in the aviation industry, but it seems that having a pilot licence makes me unsuitable for other jobs as well. 

Already before the pandemic, finding a job as a pilot was a challenge where you had to be ready to invest and gamble your savings into a type rating or a Pay-to-fly scheme . Today, even this is not going to help you into a job. I have been looking for a job as a First Officer for months now. But so far, I’m only dreaming about my last flight. 

The goal is to restart my career in aviation but as many of my fellow unemployed pilots know – it is not so easy:  too few job openings, too high job requirements and too many unemployed colleagues competing for the few positions that pop up. 

The aviation market has slowed down so much that over 50% of the pilots haven’t been flying at times. Old and new companies failed or simply left a lot of pilots without a job.

Almost two years into the pandemic the situation on the European pilot job market is dramatic! Almost every day there is an article about “the pilot shortage” in the US and how US airlines are ramping up operations and recruiting new pilots.