Cost-cutting and tired crews weaken airline safety - study

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 study.

- Juliette Garside

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.

The study, which involved 6,900 workers, also found concerns among cabin crew who reported feeling pushed into making onboard sales of perfumes and alcohol, presenting a conflict with their role in keeping passengers safe and well.

The report found that the Covid pandemic accelerated a decline in working conditions.

Researchers said a generation of senior pilots had left the industry, replaced by younger, cheaper and more flexible ones who are more likely to accept precarious contracts.

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.