Air travel - common safety standards to be guaranteed by European Aviation Safety Agency - Main contents

MEPs recommend giving the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) the power to impose fines on airlines or other aviation players if safety standards are not correctly implemented. This came as they gave the go-ahead for an expansion of the Agency's role to help establish common, and properly enforced, safety standards for all airlines flying in Europe, whether EU-based or not.

The EASA should be given the power to impose fines on airlines or other aviation players if safety standards are not correctly implemented. The House gave the go-ahead for an expansion of EASA's role to help establish common safety standards for all airlines flying in Europe, whether EU-based or not.

The decision includes giving EASA new roles across the whole field of aviation and airline behaviour, including the conditions for operating aircraft and issuing, maintaining, limiting or suspending an operator's certificate. The Agency will also have competence over pilots' licences, to ensure they meet standards of knowledge, skill and language proficiency.

Sources of information on abuses or non-compliance, notably whistleblowers, should be given adequate protection with the aim of encouraging reporting of such events and reducing the number of accidents. The EASA was set sup in 2002 to help provide a high a uniform level of aviation safety across Europe, by drawing up common standards, overseeing their application in the EU and promoting them at world level.