Flight Time Limitations Pose New Cost Threat for Charter Operators

Beyond taxes, airport access, and decarbonization costs, Europe’s charter operators are now facing a new cost burden in the shape of revised EASA pilot flight time limitations (FTL) that are due to take effect in 2027. 

According to Olivier Perdriel of Skyfirst, the tighter NPA 2024-106(B) rules around rest periods during and after trips will be “horrible” for operators, and he called for the industry to counter strong lobbying by commercial pilots’ unions.

The rules, which have been drawn up specifically for the business aviation sector, are expected to mean that operators of ultra-long-range jets, like the new Dassault Falcon 10X model, will have to have more pilots on the payroll and allow longer rest periods between trips. “If you go [from Europe] to New York for two days, you then have to stop flying for three days, and if you go to Los Angeles, it would be five days,” Perdriel explained.

Describing the new rule as “very strange,” he said it includes confusing requirements such as additional rest periods during trips depending on whether the flight crew is notified of changes in a departure time via email or WhatsApp messages. The business aviation industry has previously asked for FTL rules to be reshaped around its operational realities—as opposed to those of scheduled airlines—but Perdriel indicated that keeping the existing rules would be less bad at this point.

According to Perdriel, 106(B) gives no credit for the fact that the latest long-range jets are far more comfortable for pilots and that their workload has been reduced by new technology. He predicted that the changes could require three or even four pilots to be assigned to trips of up to 15 hours.

“I think at some point owners will just find all of this too much of a burden and start registering aircraft outside Europe and under purely private flight rules,” he predicted. “We are in real danger from increased taxes and complex regulations that are not always clear and fair. We have already been operating with chains on our feet, and now they [regulators] are attaching the chains to the wall to make sure we cannot go far.” z