The current Air Services regulation is outdated and urgently needs to be revised:

• to stop aircrews’ social standards to worsen even further.
• to ensure legal certainty for crews and authorities.
• to close socially harmful regulatory loopholes.
• to facilitate the enforcement of national and European social legislation applicable to aircrew.
• to end social dumping by unscrupulous airlines.

This is what our European branch (ECA) urged in their open letter to the Europe’s Transport Commissioner, Mrs Vălean.

From a pilots’ perspective, this revision is a key opportunity to make Europe’s aviation market more resilient and sustainable – both socially and environmentally. We need to strengthen Europe’s aviation and its strategic role in view of external economic shocks, potential future pandemics and geo-political uncertainties.

Despite this pressing situation, European pilots are still waiting for the upcoming proposal from the European Commission to revise the Air Services Regulation 1008/2008 to be issued.

What are the objectives of the EU 1008-2008 regulation?

1. Providing a clear definition of ‘Operational Base’ and related information requirements for the airlines towards authorities, thereby facilitating oversight & enforcement & link to applicable law.
2. Tackling the growing problem of bogus self-employment among aircrew, by a presumption of direct employment to be included in the new legislation;
3. Countering social abuses by strengthening the legal framework for wet-leasing (agreement under which an airline provides an Aircraft, Complete crew, Maintenance, and Insurance (ACMI) to another airline):
   • Clarify rules for internal EU wet-lease
   • No liberalization of 3rd country (non EU) wet-leasing. Not being subject to the same strict regulations as those applicable in Europe, they represent an unfair competition that affects the competitiveness of European airlines.
4. Maintaining the EU’s current airline ownership & control rules. No further liberalization of airline ownership detrimental to EU citizens.
5. Extending the Regulation’s scope to third-country operations in the EU.

A failure to act from the European Commission would mean accepting the continuation of worsening working conditions, social dumping, and impunity for those who exploit the Regulation’s loopholes.