We were sad to learn about another bankruptcy in civil aviation today – UK’s regional airline Flybe. The spread of the COVID-19 has had an important impact in accelerating the process towards the bankruptcy of the airline, which represents just one of the symptoms of a Europe-wide crisis. Decisive action needs to be taken to keep Europe moving.

To prevent a complete collapse of the air transport networks in the immediate future, the EU, European countries and other key authorities such as EASA need to come up with a detailed, clear and effective contingency plan.

On 17 December a decree has been signed by the French prime minister Édouard Philippe, temporarily changing the rules on the maximum allowed driving time of coach drivers. This move by the government comes amid the transport workers’ strike in France. The ETF believes that the temporary decree is aimed at undermining the workers’ actions. Additionally, the decree puts the safety of passengers in danger, since longer driving times increase the risk of accidents.

Our pilot’s representatives learned that the aviation industry is pushing for single-pilot operations to be technologically feasible from mid-2020. The ETF expresses its great concern on this evolution of the air transport sector.