Dispute Over Rest for Long-Distance Pilots

Issue examined not just for pilots and flight attendants but for maintenance workers and air traffic controllers as well.

March 2, 2009

New airplanes like the Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 that are capable of flying nonstop for as much as 20 hours are adding a new urgency to a question the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have long wrestled with: How do you make sure the flight crews get enough sleep?

In October, the FAA issued an operations bulletin for "ultra long-range flights" that doubled the amount of time pilots and flight attendants must remain at their overseas destination. The change to 48 hours from 24 is intended to make sure that flight crews get two full periods of sleep before making the return flight.

But seven airlines have asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington to set aside the new requirements, arguing that they will impose "substantial burdens and costs."

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