Change in duty & rest times for Cabin/Flight Crew?

funki · Post by **funki** » 28 Mar 2006, 01:20

Rumours are that EU legislation on duty & rest times for cabin crew would become stricter in the near future (EU-ops?)
I was told that on flights exceeding 4 hours of flight time there should be a 'nightstop' or possibility to rest for crew due to possible new regulations...
Is there anyone who can back this up or has more info on that subject? or knows something about a change of regulations and when?
I searched the internet, but couldn't find anything, especially not for cabin crew...

I would be very pleased with more info/links, etc. on this subject!
Thank you in advance

TWA · Post by **TWA** » 28 Mar 2006, 02:12

That would be great news for Thomas Cook and Jetairfly staff. Nice destinations + extra $$$$$ :dance:

Virgin Express staff on the other hand can just sit and wait for their hunger as none of their flights exceed 4 hours.

KLM671 · Post by **KLM671** » 28 Mar 2006, 03:59

not that i have any problems with that, but isn't 4 hours a bit short??

Regards
KLM671 :wave:

744rules · Post by **744rules** » 28 Mar 2006, 08:05

TWA wrote:That would be great news for Thomas Cook and Jetairfly staff. Nice destinations + extra $$$$$ :dance:

Virgin Express staff on the other hand can just sit and wait for their hunger as none of their flights exceed 4 hours.

Do not forget the crew has to got back as well and that this would mean huge financial consequenses as more crews are needed

And what about the tech crews. I cannot imagine that flying an a/c is less intense than serving meals

Stij · Post by **Stij** » 28 Mar 2006, 11:12

Does someone know the current rules?

Thanx!

Stij

iechist · Post by **iechist** » 28 Mar 2006, 11:57

KLM671 wrote:not that i have any problems with that, but isn't 4 hours a bit short??

Regards
KLM671 :wave:

It wouldn't cover a flight from many parts of Northern Europe to the Canary Islands. Expect the Spanish to have a fit about it.

funki · Post by **funki** » 28 Mar 2006, 14:02

KLM671 wrote:not that i have any problems with that, but isn't 4 hours a bit short??

KLM671 :wave:

I meant 4 hours single way, so actually I mean a limit of 8 hours flight time a day.

earthman · Post by **earthman** » 28 Mar 2006, 15:14

Isn't a long flight less intensive than a short one? More time to sit down and do nothing, it seems. You can also wait till cruise altitude before handing out the meals (if applicable), no pushing the carts uphill.

airazurxtror · Post by **airazurxtror** » 28 Mar 2006, 15:33

Read in "Flight International", 14-20 march 2006 :

"European pilot flight time limitation (FTL) have won European Council of Ministers approval after 13 years of argument.

This was only the first reading of the new draft regulation by the Council, but it should go forward for a second reading at the European Parliament.

The European Cockpit Association believes that the FTL regulations could become legal minimum standards by July at the earliest.

After examining the draft FTL standards, the UK CAA said they will not need to change the CAP 371 except in one small detail about meal breaks - claiming that the UK document is a higher standard in most cases and equal in the remainder."

I presume this is the European legislation you refer to , but, as far as Iknow, there is no mention of cabin crew in that legislation ...

funki · Post by **funki** » 29 Mar 2006, 00:55

Thank you airazurxtror,
although I still haven't found an answer concerning cabin crew, I'm coming a little bit closer to an answer.
I consulted the website of the The European Cockpit Association, and the proposal is:
-Max. basic Flight Duty Period (FDP) of 13 hours for up to 2 sectors (minus 30 min./ additional sector from the third sector)
-if FDP starts between 0200 and 0459 LT the duty time is reduced by the time that falls in that period.
If it passes the EP in July '06 it would come in effect in January 2008

iechist wrote: It wouldn't cover a flight from many parts of Northern Europe to the Canary Islands. Expect the Spanish to have a fit about it.

That means that you still can do a triangular flight from BRU to Canary Islands without a problem, considering sign-in is 1 hour before take-off and you have 2 turnarounds of 1 hour. But not a triangular to Egypt and back, e.g.: BRU-LXR-CAI-BRU, although a BRU-CAI-BRU is possible.

Would have loved some more nightstops though

If anyone has more info on this subject please let me know, thanks

A318 · Post by **A318** » 05 Apr 2006, 22:36

There are two different things here:
1) Scheduling by the law
2) Scheduling by the CLA (CAO)

The (dutch) law says a max CFDT (Corrected Flight Duty Time) of 16 hours but most of the CLA's are having a max of 13 hours.
45 minute penalties start with the 4th landing but after a short rest the penalties start from the 2nd landing. So in my opinion a 4:30 hr sector can be easily flown twice a day when they use a sign on from 1 hour and sign off from 30 minutes. This will give a FDT from 10:30, add a 1hr turn around and your CFDT will be 11:30 hrs. So still covered within the CLA and for sure within the law.

Greetz,

Erwin