§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what restrictions he sets down on the number of hours that crews of British airlines may fly; and what information he has on the restrictions that apply to foreign registered and operated air services.
§ Mr. McLoughlinIt is the Civil Aviation Authority that is responsible for the regulation of the working hours of crews of British airlines, in accordance with the Air Navigation Order 1989. The order requires that no member of the flight crew may fly for more than 100 hours in any consecutive 28-day periods or more than 900 hours during the period of 12 months expiring at the end of the previous month.
Furthermore, the order requires operators to establish a scheme for the regulation of crew duty times and the scheme must be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. The Civil Aviation Authority provides guidelines, CAP 371, to assist operators to develop acceptable schemes. The guidelines cover such matters as rest periods, standby duty, days off, extended range operations by two pilots, delayed reporting times, acclimatisation to local time, the records that must be kept and the reports that must be made.
Guidelines are also issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. I understand that other states' regulations are in general comparable with the Civil Aviation Authority's requirements.