WIREDGOV

New rules on maximum flight times for pilots and cabin crew should now be adopted by the European Commission, as a resolution calling on it to withdraw them was voted down in Parliament's plenary session on Wednesday.

The fact remains that every single national safety regulator supported these measures, said Transport and Tourism Committee Chair Brian Simpson (S&D, UK), speaking of lack of confidence in the proposed measures expressed by some members, in the debate before the vote.

218 members voted for the resolution, 387 against and 66 abstained. An absolute majority would have been needed to pass it.

Parliament's vote shows that it does not oppose Commission draft measures on flight time limitations which aim to improve safety by ensuring that flight and cabin crew have proper alertness levels during air operations.

The Commission's draft measure aims to improve existing flight time limitation rules inter alia by limiting night time flights to 11 hours, adding limits for flight time in 12 consecutive months and adding rest periods to counter cumulative fatigue after extended flights and in the event of disruptive schedules.

Total time should not exceed 16 hours for combined airport standby and following flight duty.

Under the "comitology" procedure for implementing measures, Parliament can reject draft implementing measures, but not amend them.

Procedure: Regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS)