By Alison Lampert and Abhijith Ganapavaram
MONTREAL/NEW DELHI, April 10 (Reuters) – Airline pilots with safety concerns about flying in the Middle East during the Iran war have told a global aviators union group they fear being fired for lost wages if they refuse to take responsibility, its president Ron Hay said.
Pilots from Lebanon to India have expressed “widespread” concern that they could face restrictions if they don’t fly in often unpredictable situations where airspace can be closed with little notice due to missile or drone strikes, according to the head of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Unions.
“There is an underlying fear of retaliation,” Hay told Reuters in his first interview on the matter.
His comments came as some Middle Eastern carriers continued to restore flights even as a two-week ceasefire announced on Tuesday faced challenges from continued attacks.
Hey, a Delta Airlines captain said some pilots were worried about being fired. For others, “they can’t lose their jobs but they (managers) can say, ‘Don’t fly the trip and you don’t pay for it.'”
He declined to name the airlines involved but said there were examples of how not to operate a positive safety culture that pilots were encouraged to speak up.
“This has been lacking in the Middle East for some time and has been exacerbated by this conflict,” Hay said.
Montreal-based IFALPA has member associations in Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait and Lebanon, according to its website. It does not list member unions in major Gulf carriers in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which are not unionized.
Middle Eastern carriers say they prioritize security. Flights to and from the UAE and Qatar are being operated through dedicated corridors set up with regulators.
Reuters tried to contact more than a dozen pilots in the Gulf to discuss whether they were comfortable flying in the current environment, but all declined to speak on condition of anonymity or did not respond to questions.
Middle East concerns
After the ceasefire was announced, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency extended until April 24 a ban on European airlines operating over the skies of several Gulf countries, including the UAE and Qatar. But carriers based in Dubai and Doha continue to fly there, as do Indian airlines.
Concerns among aviators operating in the Middle East prompted IFALPA to publish a paper this week reminding pilots that they need to make “non-negotiable” statements about safety, Hay said.
“There is deep concern within the field, which is part of the reason the paper was produced.”
A bulletin released Thursday by the United Nations Aviation Agency called mental health risks in conflict zones “safety critical.”
“Personnel involved in civil aviation operations in or near conflict zones can experience high levels of stress, anxiety and fatigue – both on the ground and in the air,” the bulletin said.
Hay said pilots flying in the area have lamented the lack of guidance on the risks, making it difficult to plan if an airport is suddenly closed due to a drone attack.
In late March, IFALPA’s Indian member pilots called Air India’s continued flight operations in the affected Gulf region “a matter of grave concern”. The pilot group asked the country’s civil aviation regulator in a letter to suspend operations pending a centralized “risk assessment.”
Air India has engaged risk consultants who monitor whether it is safe to fly on a daily basis, sources familiar with the matter said. India’s aviation regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pilots have been affected in other ways as well. Hay said he received a recent question from members of Beirut whose challenges did not end with the landing.
“The road between the airport and their house was completely bombed,” he said. “They didn’t know how they were going to get home.”
(Reporting by Alison Lampert in Montreal and Abhijit Ganapavaram in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; Editing by Jamie Freed)
