"Pilots and cabin crew at European airlines feel increasingly under pressure to work long hours and hide signs of tiredness at the expense of safety, according to a major study. Cost cutting and profit chasing at airlines has systemically weakened safety, and many exhausted employees feel too intimidated to challenge management decisions, the research by Ghent University in Belgium found."
"Researchers said a generation of senior pilots had left the industry, replaced by younger, cheaper and more flexible workers who were more likely to accept precarious contracts that weaken their ability to uphold standards. Asked about whether they felt confident in pushing back against decisions that felt potentially unsafe, more than half of respondents to the survey said they did not feel able to modify instructions from management based on safety objections. The results showed a deterioration since a 2014 study, also by Ghent University, which found 82% of pilots said they felt able to modify instructions. About 30% of pilots said they were sometimes reluctant to take safety decisions out of fear of possible negative consequences for their professional career."
A Ghent University survey of 6,900 airline workers finds pilots and cabin crew increasingly pressured to work long hours and conceal tiredness, compromising safety. Cost-cutting and profit-seeking at airlines have systemically weakened safety and pushed exhausted staff into roles that conflict with passenger-care responsibilities, including onboard sales. The Covid pandemic accelerated a decline in working conditions after a wave of senior pilot departures, replaced by younger, cheaper workers on precarious contracts. More than half of respondents said they could not modify management instructions on safety grounds, and about 30% of pilots sometimes avoid safety decisions for fear of career consequences.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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