Europe’s air safety at risk amid cost-cutting and staff pressures, study warns

More than half of respondents were reluctant to make safety objections to airline decisions. File photo

Pilots and cabin crew at European airlines feel increasingly under pressure to work long hours and hide signs of tiredness at the expense of safety, according to a major study.

Cost-cutting and profit chasing at airlines has “systemically weakened” safety, and many exhausted employees feel too intimidated to challenge management decisions, the research by Ghent University in Belgium found.