Remaining crew hours for short haul flights.

[Richie]

For SH flights returning to the UK, are there any reasonable expectations for how many crew hours should be remaining to avoid over night delays?

Is it related to the airport closing time, if there is one?
The original scheduled outbound take-off time?
Three hours in relation to the Judge Sturgeon decision?
The length of the sector to be flown?

Any thoughts appreciated.

[JDB]

There can be no definitive answer to this question. It must depend on the circumstances and each airline has its own protocols with significant built in redundancies, usually agreed with a regulator to ensure compliance with rules, including those relating to crew hours. It is safe to say that no airline is going to opt for an overnight delay if it can be avoided given the huge additional costs such a delay would incur, even if no compensation were payable.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

It’s a mix of the crew hours and the first, second and fourth item on your lost.

EU261 implications wouldn’t come into crew hours.

Crew would be rostered based on their scheduled flights with some slack. It’s not a case of them just working overtime as it’s complicated due to rest periods and how that would impact the next working day.

Now depending on the delay and how that impacts their hours the crew can decide to fly (they want to get home as well) but it’s their decision because only they know their level of fatigue and future working patterns. 30 minute day could be acceptable but an hour may not be.

And a further complication might be differences in the hours for flight and cabin crew. They don’t always work the same.

Airport curfew does come into it. If the flight is to say LCY then 10pm is a hard cut off and a diversion can cause all sorts of other problems for both passengers and the airline.

There isn’t a hard and fast rule.

[Richie]

Thanks for the informative replies.