Croatian pilots complain of fatigue

Croatia Airlines pilots unhappy with new regulations
Pilots at Croatia Airlines are complaining that since the decision to reduce the minimal rest period for its cabin crew, introduced by the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency, some of its staff have reported difficulties while on duty, as a result of fatigue. The announcement came from the Union of Croatian Pilots, a month after the controversial rules were introduced. The union claims that the measures were established as a way of cutting down on costs at the national carrier. “We still believe that a human life has no price and that any cost cutting shouldn’t be introduced at the expense of passengers, pilots, cabin crew and all of those on the ground that could be affected by a fatal accident”, the union says, calling on the government to intervene. The union has received support from the Croatia Airlines Pilots Association as well as the European Pilots Association.

The Croatian Civil Aviation Agency was quick to respond saying it had not received any incident reports or problems associated with fatigue. The Agency added that it will review its decision if and when any incidents occur and only if proven they were brought on by sleep deprivation. Upon the introduction of the new regulations, the Agency said, “Croatia Airlines now has equal, not greater liberties in term of flight duties compared to foreign airlines operating to Croatia, which is one of the basic prerequisites for equal competition“.

Pilots have launched court action against the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency. Fatigue has been blamed in numerous aviation accidents over the years. Pilot fatigue contributes to 20% of fatal aviation accidents caused by human error. The Union of Croatian Pilots says three fatigue related problems were reported on Croatia Airlines flights recently although none posed risk to passenger safety.

Comments

  1. JU520 BEGLAX10:02

    www.flightradar24.com you have an overview what s day for day flying over ex-YU

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:57

    OT, sorry.
    For planes equipped with proper transponder only.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Purger12:04

    Qatar Airways open 20 jobs in Croatia, and put advertisements for it in media. That means they are really near to open office and start flights.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:10

    actually you need ADS-B on board.

    ReplyDelete
  5. JU520 BEGLAX12:24

    You see only apx 70% of Europes airtraffic. But still interesting to see that sometimes Qatar/Emirates/Etihad overflying Slo-Zagreb-Serbia within minutes with 6-7 planes


    Common aircraft models that are NOT visible on Flightradar24 (no ADS-B transponder):

    ATR-42
    ATR-72
    Boeing 707
    Boeing 717
    Boeing 727
    Boeing 737-200
    Boeing 747-100
    Boeing 747-200
    Boeing 747SP
    All CASA models
    All Bombardier Dash models
    All Bombardier CRJ models
    Dornier 328
    All Embraer models (except most new deliveries of Embraer E190)
    Jetstream 32
    Fokker 50
    McDonnell Douglas DC-9
    McDonnell Douglas MD-8x
    McDonnell Douglas MD-9x
    Saab 340
    Saab 2000
    "Air Force One"
    Most older aircraft
    Most military aircraft
    Of course there are lots of exceptions.
    For example one Lufthansa CRJ900, one LOT ATR-72, one Wideroe Dash, some MD8X from Onur Air, some Saab 340 in Australia and several private Cessnas are visible.
    There are also some older A300, A310, A320, B737, B747, B757, B767 aircraft without the ADS-B transponder, and that makes thoose aircraft invisible on Flightradar24

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:25

    Добар дан.

    This morning was a true Hell in Belgrade. The line for the security control was all the way to the crappy cafe.
    From what I could see Jat's flight to London Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam and Dusseldorf were completely sold out.

    Our flight to Athens was parked at the gate A9 which is horrible (and I am being kind).
    Gates A1 to A4 are closed and renovation/expansion is underway. It is very much needed to be honnest.

    Our flight was 75% full which is not bad especially since there was a flight on Jat to Athens just before us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:37

    3rd of January, although busy day, it took me less than 15 minutes to reach LDZA departure gates.
    Security check was quick, only passport control took little longer.
    With web check in, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:38

    Croatia Airlines does NOT intend on launching Zagreb-Belgrade flights.
    I guess the skeptics have won...

    http://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/898-croatia-airlines-ne-planira-let-zagreb--beograd/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:49

    3rd January anonymous:

    Well I do not know how many flight were there in Zagreb but when I was waiting in line there was:
    1. Jat B733 to Sochi
    2. Jat B733 to Dusseldorf
    3. Atr-72 to Athens
    4. Jat Atr72 to Podgorica
    5. Jat Atr72 to Vienna
    6. Jat B733 to Rome
    7. Austrian F100 to Vienna
    8. Jat B733 to Amsterdam via BRU
    9. Adria Crj-200
    10. Montenegro E195 to Podgorica
    -----that is in 1 hour----
    With us there were mostly passengers to Zurich on Swiss and Jat to Paris.

    That's quite a lot of flights in less than 2 hours.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Purger13:51

    10 planes in one hour is not "a lot". For istance in ZAG between 8:15 and 9:15 you have more than 10 planes every day

    AMS OU
    BRU OU
    CPH OU
    FRA OU
    LGW or LHR OU
    MUC LH
    CDG OU
    CDG AF
    FCO OU
    SPU, DBV, ZAD or PUY OU
    VIE OU
    VIE OS
    ZRH OU

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous13:53

    Just checked at JAT site.

    Is it really true that JAT has no Web check-in option or site itself is not updated?

    Info would be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  12. JU520 BEGLAX15:06

    Swiss flew yesterday on Sunday the morning and noon flights ZRH-BEG-ZRH with Airbus A321

    That would be around 200 seats per flight... pretty sure that the BEG-ZRH legs were on both flights probably full

    ReplyDelete
  13. I could not agree more with the union... that's insane!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous16:43

    Well flights to Frankfurt and Munich depart early in the morning at around 06:00 and then there are flights on Austrian at 05:15 and Malev's flight at 04:55 and then there is Wizz Air at 05:40 to either Luton or Dortmund.
    Those morning flights out of Belgrade are spaced out unlike Zagreb which seem to be squished all at more or less the same time...

    ReplyDelete
  15. SuisseOuest17:08

    re JAT's site: unfortunately it's true: JAT does not have web check-in
    re BEG: yesterday was pretty bad as well (20+ min line for security check which streched all the way to the staircases), although number of departures seemed the same as any other Sunday (when I tend to wait 2-3 mins max) which leads me to conclude that planes are not particularly full on an average Sunday
    re the article: how do Croatia's rules compare to the new US rules? http://www.salon.com/2012/01/05/the_faa_gets_it_right_almost/singleton/

    ReplyDelete
  16. tamai18:04

    As i remember Qatar Airways
    intended to begin its Zagreb flights in February.
    I am sure they will start with begin of the summer timetable,
    February would be too early.

    When i hear that Flydubai has a LF
    of only 40 percent on its Belgrade flights i doubt they will see
    Qatar Airways anytime soon.
    I would not be surprised if FZ cancel Belgrade flights but who knows?

    I think i am not the only one who would like to know exact
    statistics for FZ to Belgrade.

    I also would like to see EX YU AVIATION blog to deliver us those data.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Purger19:49

    Anonymous 4:43 PM
    Also ZAG have those very eary flights:

    5:55 DBV OU
    6:10 SPU OU
    6:50 CDG AF
    6:55 FRA OU

    I hate this "Pekarski" Dubrovnik at 5:55 because I use it several time per year.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous21:28

    @ tamai and others

    FlyDubai will most likely NOT cancel service anytime soon from Dubai to Beograd as the market will grow and it has replaced JAT on the service. Even though of course FZ wants money and business, they are and will be attracting more transit pax through Australia and connect Dubai and Beograd.

    Also, I believe the flights will at least stay throughout the summer to see how they will be done. I believe they will be pretty full, but that is to be seen. Also, it is sad that FZ cannot codeshare with JU so they can get tranfer pax from Balkans to go to BEG then Dubai, but I dont believe JAT did that either?

    And for OU, who even said that ZAG- BEG flights would start admin? Would be nice for them to begin... but who knows.

    ReplyDelete
  19. tamai22:57

    Dear Aleks,
    i am really hoping the same -
    that FZ does not suspend Belgrade.

    I also expect them to increase their
    LF in summer - if their four time a week frequency stays at it is .

    But you have to know that till now they probably made huge losses.

    FZ has a huge advantage in comparison to Qatar Airways - they dont have a business class .

    I assume that Qatar will have no problem to fill up their economy on their Zagreb flights - but will they do so with their business class?

    With empty seats in Business class
    service becomes inprofitable very fast - even with full economy.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous08:49

    Any opinion on topic instead? Are OU pilots duty times differs from any ICAO standard or not? If are in line, which I belive they are, what they are asking for? Are they like their colleagues in JU, stars from past times or it is something that we do not know? If Purger or somebody knows, please enlighten us cause it is interesting topic, thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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