Financial Times. London 10 August:-
Pilots make safety call at low-cost airlines
By Matthew Jones and Andrea Felsted
Published: August 9 2002 13:42 | Last Updated: August 9 2002 20:47
British pilots are to demand higher safety standards at low-cost airlines after EasyJet, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, admitted its rapid expansion was stretching the airline to its limits.
The British Air Line Pilots' Association said on Friday it had requested a meeting with Ray Webster, EasyJet chief executive, to seek better working conditions.
EasyJet pilots have complained that safety standards are being compromised by the group's rapid expansion, which saw passenger numbers grow by more than 60 per cent year-on-year last month.
A Balpa official said pilots were also worried about other airlines. "Among a lot of low-cost airline pilots there is a quiet concern that they are being overstretched and that safety could suffer," he said.
"We have also been told of concerns among pilots at Ryanair, although Ryanair does not recognise union membership."
Ryanair said its pilots were not under pressure and that it operated to an approved flight-time limitation system whereby no pilot could fly more than 900 hours in any year. It had no t cancelled any flights because of pilot shortages and had no plans to do so.
EasyJet said it would have to cut four to six flights a day after being forced to cancel 19 flights last Sunday, on top of 28 in July. This followed the introduction of a new flight-crew roster, which the airline admitted was "rubbish".
Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen, the group's operations director, has written to pilots acknowledging that they are being overworked and that "the current situation cannot continue".
"The combination of volume and complexity in the summer schedule has stretched us to the limit. I recognise that we need to scale back slightly to recreate stability," he said.
The concerns came days after EasyJet continued its aggressive expansion plan by completing the £374m ($570m) takeover of Go, its smaller UK rival.
EasyJet said its summer service had been hampered by air traffic control problems and building work at Luton airport, but its ability to cope with these problems was hindered by the n ew rostering system. This will be dropped in favour of the previous system.
EasyJet added that the four to six flights it is cancelling - a small percentage of the 250 it flies a day - would be removed from the schedule until October.
"This is a punctuality issue, not a safety issue," EasyJet said. "This is caused by a rostering system. It has got nothing to do with safety or expansion."
An EasyJet official said its pilots were trying to raise concerns in the press to win better pay deals following the merger. "We refute absolutely that we are compromising safety - we would rather cancel all flights than reduce safety levels," he added.
Dominic Edridge, transport analyst at Commerzbank, said: "Low-cost airlines have almost had too many opportunities in the last year and it's difficult to sustain growth at those levels."