He added, though, the airline is monitored closely and there have been no significant complaints about safety, including via an anonymous system for reporting such issues.
Given the airline's and countries past history - including suspected wiretaps on employee phones in the distant past and insistence on access to mobile phone encryption protocols, is it any wonder that any anonymous reporting systems are treated with the utmost suspicion?
Emirates said in a statement responding to the allegations it never compromises on safety and fully complies with its regulator’s mandates.
The regulator DOES allow flight-time factoring - a dubious practice wherein time not spent at the controls is not counted towards flight time limits. Anyone who has actually flown ULR (not the management at EK) will tell you that all time in the aircraft contributes to fatigue levels. Very few countries in the world allow this practice.
The state-owned carrier, which wouldn’t make executives available for this article, also said it had a “proactive” fatigue-management procedure.
The airline often quotes the existence of a "Fatigue Reporting Monitoring System" yet time and time again; flights are originally scheduled with insufficient rest, facilities or crew. Only after an influx of fatigue reports is any change made to the pairing. Then, almost identical pairings are scheduled, again insufficiently, requiring the requisite 6 to 12 months worth of fatigue reports before any changes are made. The cynicism of the system in practice is evident to any familiar with it. The reporter should contact the EK doctor who set up the FRMS (no longer employed at EK) to find out how the Fatigue Reduction Monitoring Committee at EK works in practice.
Emirates acknowledged discontent among its more than 3,700 pilots, though it called those speaking out an unhappy “vocal minority.” It urged them to engage with management, adding it had set up an open forum for pilots to provide input
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Whether those speaking out are a minority or a majority is certainly open to debate. What isn't, is that for years, the only response from Emirates management to any displays of discontent or even concern has been; "if you don't like it, leave".
It is obvious that Emirates management and Mr. Al Redha himself consider increasing levels of pilot productivity as a bottomless well from which to continuously fish for increased profits WITHOUT considering the consequences on safety or morale. There are not many airlines in the world that are consistently scheduling their flight crews to the levels that Emirates is and none that are their direct competitors.