On 27 and 28 June ECA held its Conference in Brussels. 22 Member Associations were represented and several important issues were discussed.

Of course our continuous battle to get safe and science based flight time limitations rules was discussed. The EU timeline is delayed once more and it now seems it will not be finalised before June 2013. Our Austrian member reported on a recent survey among pilots in Austria which confirms – yet again – that fatigue is not a theoretical problem, but a reality is Europe’s cockpits already today. And our British association gave a presentation about the outcome of a report of the UK Transport Select Committee that clearly states: “The Government should seek to ensure that scientists have a more central role in further work by EASA as it finalises its flight time limitations proposals”. We hope that EASA and the European Commission will finally listen to what experts on fatigue think about the flaws in their proposals as they are currently drafted.

Furthermore, as you can read elsewhere in the Cockpit News, we discussed the struggle from Ryanair pilots to organise and get recognised by their management to collectively discuss their labour agreements. The ECA Conference clearly stated they will keep on supporting Ryanair pilots in their efforts.

On the industrial side, our Spanish member (SEPLA) made a disturbing presentation on their negotiations with IBERIA regarding IBERIA Express. It seems that IBERIA is not only looking to drastically cut costs but is also trying to use this crisis to stop the long-standing cooperation with its pilots. SEPLA made several offers to help the company but IBERIA rejected them even though they were more profitable than IBERIA’s proposals. And although the government has finally arbitrated the case, IBERIA still does not implement its part of the arbitrator’s decision.

Sean Cassidy (First Vice President ALPA International), as guest speaker, gave an update on the situation in the USA and shared the background of an ALPA-I white paper called “Levelling the Playing Field”. It outlines the concerns on the unequal distribution of state support to stakeholders in the global aviation world today. Finally it was during this Conference that ECA had to say goodbye to one of their loyal staff members.

Paméla Grillet-Paysan decided that she will leave our association. She joined ECA on 15 October 2007 and developed from a Junior staff member to Communication Officer and Technical Policy Advisor on Helicopters and Aerodromes. One of her last tasks was to launch our new website that is on line as of Monday 2 July 2012. The Conference and the ECA Executive Board wish her all the best in her life and the rest of her career.