Wig Wag. .The changes apply to any first night stopover in Continental Europe, and not specifically to the 5 . .early variation. The study was done on KLM UK on "earlys" and i believe a study has also been done on BMI on "lates". Another question;. .If the crew night stop in Europe the first night and apply the UK time to the FDP allowable, if they go back to the UK and nightstop do they calculate their allowable FDP on UK time or Continental time? (recipe for confusion, perhaps. .we should persuade the Euro's to move their clocks back instead, and all switch to CAP371 for a level playing field)
As for the CAA bending to commercial pressure, don't think so from experience.