Aviation safety row: Seven US-based airlines sue FAA over new crew-rest rules

Seven airlines based in the United States have sued the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alleging that the agency “broke its own rules and may have compromised flight safety when it set new standards for pilot rest times without input from the carriers.”

In the lawsuit fled the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the seven airlines said: “We should have had a chance to comment on the rules, which would place yet another financial burden on us. The Federal Aviation Administration has neither demonstrated how the rule will advance safety, considered the potential that the rule may actually diminish safety, nor justified the significant costs of the rule against any purported benefit.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the US. The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created the group under the name Federal Aviation Agency, and adopted its current name in 1967 when it became a part of the United States Department of Transportation. The FAA is the single most influential governmentally run aviation agency in the world, with the European Aviation Safety Agency in a close second.

The seven airlines that moved court against the FAA include American Airlines, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and three other smaller carriers.

Delta Air Lines, which recently merged with Northwest Airlines, was not a party to the lawsuit, and both Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have negotiated separate rules with the Federal Aviation Administration on crew-rest requirements on long-haul flights.

The United States government rules, intended to minimise crew fatigue during very longest flights abroad, require additional rest time and longer layovers for pilots on non-stop flights that last over 16 hours. To comply with this rule, airlines would have to put more pilots on those flights and provide more in-flight rest facilities for them.

Airlines, which face a financial downturn in 2009, complain that these regulations would jack up their labour costs.

In the lawsuit, the seven airlines said: “The FAA acted arbitrarily in 2008 with regulations for flights, including American Airlines’ route between Chicago and Delhi, and Continental Airlines’ trips connecting Newark, New Jersey with Hong Kong and Mumbai.”

A good majority of international flights are shorter than 16 hours, but delays caused by weather conditions can unexpectedly lengthen trips as well as pilots’ workdays.

Alison Duquette, a spokeswoman for the US Federal Aviation Administration, was quoted by the media as saying: “It makes sense for airlines to use the latest science to cut the risk of crew fatigue.” However, she said she cannot comment on the lawsuit and termed Delta Air Lines’ experience with its requirement “a model.”

In a statement, Allied Pilots Association, an association of US pilots, supported the FAA’s action, saying: “The rules the FAA is trying to implement are based on science.”

Jay Pierce, who leads the Continental Airlines unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, said in another statement: “Continental Airlines and crew members have already begun the process of evaluating long flights. The FAA specification provides for science-based fatigue modeling.”