The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Wednesday that it would “actively follow” the current pressure on European airports, recognizing that the fatigue of workers, due to the lack of human and technical resources, could be “a threat to safety”. .
“EASA is actively monitoring the situation at European airports as we are well aware that fatigue and stress within any part of the aviation system can potentially constitute a security threatparticularly if there is a direct or indirect impact on safety-critical functions, such as pilots”, indicates the EU agency, in a written response sent to the Lusa agency.
Emphasizing being “in contact with all Member States”, EASA acknowledges that, “given that the dense European network of flights means that any problem at one airport quickly has a knock-on effect at another”, so it is working with countries “to better understand the details of the situation and assess the broader impact on flight safety.”
To do this, the European agency is “analyzing specific cases, for example, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport“, which has already announced that it will limit the number of flights due to lack of personnel.
“Based on this and other contributions, we will work with Member States and industry stakeholders to implement appropriate actions,” EASA tells Lusa.
One of these actions is the creation of a Security Information Bulletin, with uniform guidelines for EU countries, which according to EASA could “potentially be used in this context”.
Covid-19 has caused a historic contraction in the European aviation industry, which is now recovering despite the impact of the Ukrainian war on demand.
After airlines and airports laid off thousands of workers due to the pandemic, this summer’s unexpected recovery has generated situations such as longer-than-normal waiting times, flight cancellations and postponements, maintenance problems, among others.
On this day, the European Cockpit Association (ECA) warned of “dangerously rising levels” of crew fatigue due to “travel chaosAirlines at European airports this summer, faced with a lack of staff and the unexpected recovery of the sector, ask for community guidance.
The ECA has even asked EASA to issue guidelines on how airlines and airports can safely manage the summer chaos.
The estimate of the European association is that around 18,000 European pilots, almost a third of the total, lost their jobs or were put on “redundancy” during the Covid-19 crisis.
Likewise, the German air group Lufthansa announced on Wednesday the cancellation of another 2,000 flights during the summer, at the Frankfurt and Munich airports, due to lack of personnel.
Lufthansa cancels 2,000 more flights during the summer due to staff shortage
Lufthansa’s announcement comes after other airlines have moved forward with similar measures, such as Belgium’s Brussels Airlines, which announced the cancellation of 700 flights.
Source: Observadora
