Pilots Charge US Airways With ‘Program of Intimidation’ to Cut Fuel Use
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 07.17.08 | 10:38 AM ET
On Monday we noted a newspaper story about airlines filling their planes with less fuel to save money. Now comes a particularly troubling report: US Airways’ pilots’ union claims its pilots are under pressure from the airline to use less fuel than they believe to be safe.
According to FAA regulations, planes must have enough fuel to fly to their destination, as well as an alternate, and an additional amount that will allow them to fly for 45 minutes. The union’s representative said eight pilots were recently required to attend a training session when they asked for “an extra 10 or 15 minutes worth of fuel.” The union took out a newspaper ad describing US Airways’ actions as “a program of intimidation.”
A US Airways official said the move was not designed to punish or intimidate the pilots.
What impact is this larger trend of reduced fuel use having on passengers? This Chicago Sun-Times story notes that planes are being diverted more often, and it offered an intriguing anecdote related to United Airlines:
Chicago sports radio host Marc Silverman, 36, said his United Airlines pilot on a trip last month to New York explained that airlines “are not filling up their tanks like they used to,” which is why the plane had to divert to Pittsburgh. On his way home, Silverman’s flight had to refuel in St. Louis before going to O’Hare.
Photo by MattContinental via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Jim Benning is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Dave 07.17.08 | 3:36 PM ET
So not only is it not safe to have less fuel in the plane, it take lots longer for a person to even get somewhere. People have set schedules that cannot have flight delays. Its not efficient at all.
Jake 07.17.08 | 5:46 PM ET
Bring on the high speed rails already!