When the Air Transport Association offers nothing much but criticism of new pilot fatigue rules, I have to call foul.  Pilot (and cabin crew fatigue) is something that has gotten worse and worse, not better over the past few decades.  In the drive to increase productivity, union rules and contracts have been renegotiated over and over resulting in less and less rest for crew members.

There was a time when getting that increased productivity was a reasonable thing because other factors affecting fatigue weren’t nearly the issues they are today.  One of the biggest issues is commuting and its a necessary evil in the airline world.  Pilots often have to commute from their home to their home base and that can mean flights anywhere from a short hop to a transcontinental flight. 

When that home base is stable, arranging and managing those commutes can be done.  However, home bases are often anything but stable these days as airlines have expanded, contracted, expanded, merged and even grown into entirely new regions.  Pilots are being moved around like inanimate objects and that leads to fatigue.  Fatigue doesn’t just come from lack of sleep.  It comes from commuting, stress, poor food and difficult schedules.  

This stuff just has to be managed better and I throw a red flag at the ATA.  Don’t just criticize, solve the problem.  Being a player in getting this issue solved.  Behaving as if nothing has changed over the past 2 decades is sticking your heads in the ground just as badly if not worse than the unions have at times.  Find ways to offer some stability and productivity and get those people better rested.  We’ve had one air disaster that clearly saw fatigue playing a role.  The fact that it was a small commuter aircraft that time doesn’t mean it won’t be a large widebody next time. 

I’ll add this:  unions need to get smart.  Demanding everything in terms of rest, wages, etc without finding a way to offer more productivity is a losing game and puts you in the penalty box with the ATA.  If you don’t find a way to come to some understanding on this, it will fall to the government and not a single person out there will find the solution satisfying or effective.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax