Spanish and UK Pilots forge closer links

 

Pilots in the UK and Spain have held talks with the intention of developing closer links after similar moves by other leading airlines.

BALPA - The British Airline Pilots Association - reported that discussions with SELPA - their counterpart in Spain, would develop their working relationship in light of growing transnational operations and a changing regulatory framework in the industry.

Captain Mark, the chairman of Balpa commented "The two unions believe that whilst there is free movement of capital, employment laws are in the main domestically constrained, leading to airlines playing employees off against each other. We will do all we can to prevent this."

Captain Javier Martinez de Velasco, the President of Selpa also commented "By working together in partnership, we can more effectively deal with regulation which is increasingly being decided at European level."

Both associations stated how their intentions were to develop common policies on issues such as the increasing threat of fatigue among pilots, shared research facilities, reciprocal legal support, an initiative to benchmark salaries across both countries' carriers, and aligning training courses.