Written answers

Wednesday, 22 November 2017

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Civil Aviation Regulation

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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49. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 180 of 18 October 2017, if he is satisfied with the regulatory oversight and enforcement duties carried out by the IAA in regard to its oversight of proactive crew fatigue mitigation through adequate manpower planning in the context of safety management systems, in view of the recent revelations in regard to insufficient pilots at an airline (details supplied) to crew a schedule which was published approximately six months beforehand. [49339/17]

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The Irish Aviation Authority is responsible for the safety oversight of the Irish civil aviation industry, and it ensures that all air carriers comply fully with all safety regulations to the highest international safety standards, including Flight Time Limitation (FTL) rules. No Irish air carrier can operate its services without maintaining full compliance with all safety regulations.

Civil aviation is a highly regulated global industry, with very good reason, and the IAA is consitently found to be amongst the best performing national aviation safety regulatory bodies in the world. Performance audits by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation and by the European Aviation Safety Agency have shown this.

Manpower planning is a matter for individual companies, and each airline is entirely responsible for managing its operations to comply with European regulations, provided it is deemed acceptable by the safety regulator. The airline which the Deputy refers to has accepted full responsibility for what has occurred. It is precisely because the airline is required to comply with EU requirements concerning flight time limitations, for the purpose of ensuring aviation safety, that it was forced to take the regrettable but necessary steps to cancel and reschedule flights.

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