“The Commission stresses the safety improvements its
proposal will bring” says Philip von Schöppenthau, ECA
Secretary General. “What they fail to say is that their
benchmark is very low, and that they chose some of the
worst practices in Europe to compare their proposal
against. The issue is that the text contains important
safety loopholes which must be closed to ensure safe
flights. A plane with brand-new engines and new cockpit
windows is nice. But as long as there is a crack in the
wing, the whole plane remains unsafe. And that’s the
problem with the Commission proposal. And this is why it
must be withdrawn and changed.”
With the rejection in the Transport Committee, the
proposal will go to a vote by the EP Plenary, most
likely in the week of October 21, as the scrutiny period
ends on October 25. On that day, the scrutiny periods
for the Council of Ministers ends as well, with national
Ministers having the opportunity to follow the EP and
reject the Commission proposal.
The rejection of the FTL proposal opens the way for the
EU Commission to reconsider bringing essential changes
to the text before it goes to vote in Plenary. Limiting
the night flights to a maximum of 10 hours flight duty
as scientists have repeatedly recommended as the safe
limit and putting a firm cap of 18 hrs on the
combination of a standby followed by a flight duty must
be a part of a revised, safe package. Also, Member
States must be allowed to keep stricter, more protective
flight time rules at national level and be able to do so
not only in specific exceptional cases rather than
having to harmonize their standards downwards to the EU
rules.
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