“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 And this is why it must be withdrawn and changed.”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.