Free trade has been one of the good reasons leading to the creation of the European Union. The governments of the founding countries had the idea of free markets with common rules and fair competition. Boundaries had to be brought down and frontiers had to be crossed, which – in the end –

Incidents occur now on every 1424th flight worldwide, according to IATA. And will increase their frequency because there is no efficient way to prevent them. This sober realisation however has done little to inspire governments across the EU – and worldwide – to ratify the ICAO Montreal

Since several months the government of the United Kingdom and the European Commission are negotiating Brexit, meaning – for the first time in history – a country using Article 50 and leaving the EU. After the first rounds and rather general debates, we have now entered the phase, where the

Airlines are trying to win over passengers’ hearts with a wide-range of in-flight entertainment, including wi-fi, multimedia and streaming perks. In shrill contrast, behind the cockpit door, multimedia, real-time data & state of the art technologies are still playing catch up. Many pilots

As a pilot, the contrast between the order, structure and coherence of our standard operating procedures sometimes conflicts dramatically with the apparently chaotic way our employment is managed and administered. How can anyone believe that the recent phenomenon of atypical employment of

The growth of transnational airlines operating throughout Europe, and further afield, has led pilots to recognise that they must cooperate even more closely and adopt new representation methods to address the challenges arising from these new business models. At a meeting hosted by IALPA

To further improve the safety of SAR operations, and indeed all Irish aviation, IFALPA and ECA urge the Irish Minister for Transport to conduct an independent review into the oversight of such operations. Effective safety oversight is crucial to identify safety risk and prevent such

Back in the 90s the European aviation industry was liberalised, coming from a purely national to a “European” system within a relatively short period of time. The passengers were happy about new choices, cheaper air fares & more connections. The aircraft manufacturers sold more of their

Ryanair pilots continue to write history – this time with the support and under the coordination of pilot associations from across Europe. A new ambitious protocol, setting up the Ryanair Transnational Pilot Group (RTPG), was adopted unanimously, on 17 March, during an ECA Conference in

In the past years, the industry couldn’t care less about young pilots entering the profession. They were seen as “cash cows” by the training schools, certain airlines and broker agencies. In fact, a whole new industry was born that can churn out many more young pilots than the industry

Random alcohol testing of air crews is coming to Europe. The introduction of this new rule – once approved by the European Parliament – will happen no later than 2020. At the end of February, the EU Member States in the so-called ‘EASA Committee' approved a set of rules, including random