Airline pilots are complaining about being over worked. Should we as passengers worry about what this might mean to the ability of the pilots to stay focused and alert? The financial turmoil of the airline industry seem to have worsen the situation. The USA Today is writing about this topic in an article:
In reality, thousands of ALPA pilots at struggling carriers worked less than 14 hours daily until their companies gutted contracts and sought more productivity in bankruptcy to compete better with nimble low-cost rivals. Any schedule cushions in previous contracts have been eroded by restructuring.
“It used to be 80% of the industry had a 14-hour duty day. But now most of that is gone. It’s just gone,” Duane Woerth, president of the pilots’ union, told reporters.