Cheeser,
Spot on.
In Italy,well known for its disregard on matters that may concern safety for civil aviation-at least on the subject of flight time limitations- this is the case.
Alitalia enjoyed protection from operating to the absurdly long and exhausting flight time limitations sanctioned by ENAC,Rome.
MOST of the other italian operators have been working their crews up to such limits as 13 hours flying(brakes off to brakes on) and 17 hours duty(2 pilots) or 17 hours flying and 24 hours duty(3 pilots without adequate rest facilities). All this with absolutely NO regard as to when the duty begins(circadian rythms unheard of here). Also, due to a typing error in translation, the ability to position a crew as passengers even as far as Australia for instance,give them a MAXIMUM(should have read minimum) of 8 hours rest then have them operate back on duty exists. The rule should have read-rest time equal to positioning time with a minimum of 8 hours!
Now, part of the Alitalia recovery plan is to work crews up to these limits.
The pilots of Alitalia are unhappy and quite rightly are pointing out that these limits do nothing to protect the passengers from pilots flying tired!
So yes, at least one company-Alitalia- is pressing to extend flight duty time.
An interesting subject indeed!