Shoshana Kedem |
July 31, 2016
Flydubai has insisted its employees are not being asked to work excessive hours following claims in a UK newspaper about pilot fatigue complaints.
The Dubai carrier said it “rigorously adheres’ to all regulations set out by the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, including working hours and shift times.
The airline released a statement after The Guardian newspaper published what it said were more than 400 leaked incident reports written by flight crew in March and April.
The documents, which Flydubai confirmed are genuine, quoted some pilots as saying they were too fatigued to fly due to their working rotas.
The Guardian quoted one pilot on a flight from Krasnodar in Russia to Dubai as writing that it is “unsafe and unhelpful” for crew to be asked to voluntarily work extra hours, known as ‘discretion’.
The newspaper quoted another due to fly from Dubai to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as saying he was “fatigued for duty, due to fatigue resulting from assigned roster”.
Flydubai said the airline encourages transparency and urges crew to self-report instances of fatigue that may render them unfit to fly.
It said in a statement: “Flydubai rigorously adheres to all regulations set out by the regulator, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and operates to the highest standards.
“As part of our transparent reporting environment we investigate each of these air safety reports (ASRs) to conclusion to understand if they have any operational irregularities and any safety implications.
“Flydubai’s policy towards fatigue is designed openly and proactively to report fatigue prior to operating the planned roster.”
It went on to add: “The framework and mechanisms in place provide a blame free structure for crew to self* report when they do not feel fit to fly.
“There is a ‘no blame’ culture associated with reporting fatigue. The policy is designed to monitor occurrences of fatigue, to identify trends and give supportive evidence to the Crew Scheduling and Safety Departments.”
It added: “Flydubai has never and would never ask its crew to operate outside legally permitted hours. All flights are planned within legal limits.”
Other incident reports lay bare the challenges that pilots and cabin crew face, including dealing with drunk passengers.
One pilot on a flight from Dubai to Kiev in Ukraine told how an intoxicated Russian passenger told cabin crew he had a bomb after being refused more alcohol.
The flight landed in Ukraine and some 200 security personnel surrounded the plane before taking the suspect off the aircraft, the pilot wrote.
It read: “He was Russian, we were just entering Ukraine, he was very verbal about being a Putin supporter – do the maths!”
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