On 25 May, we voted for our regional, national and European representatives. The new government was formed a few weeks ago and we now know the names of the people who will be our main contacts for the next 5 years.

As expected, Mr. Wathelet is leaving his position of State Secretary for Transport. During his mandate, and in particular in the past year, politicians talked a lot about noise issues and flights over Brussels. They made decisions on windnorms based on some lobby groups’ demands, forgetting about an important aspect: safety. Generally speaking, during these four years, BeCA has been put aside; we have been contacted when they needed us to “endorse” decisions and discussions that had taken place without consulting us. BeCA’s plea to Mrs Jacqueline Galant (new Minister for Transport) is to truly consider us as an important stakeholder and ensure we are consulted prior to any decision-making on all aviation issues. In the new government agreement, there is mention of increasing the age of pension until 67, unless for “hard jobs”. BeCA will closely follow this issue and make sure that pilots’ interests are protected.