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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.
The study, which involved 6,900 workers, also found concerns among cabin crew who reported feeling pushed into making onboard sales of perfumes and alcohol, presenting a conflict with their role in keeping passengers safe and well.
The report found that the Covid pandemic had accelerated a decline in working conditions.
Researchers said a generation of senior pilots had left the industry, replaced by younger, cheaper and more flexible workers who were more likely to accept precarious contracts that weaken their ability to uphold standards.
Asked about whether they felt confident in pushing back against decisions that felt potentially unsafe, more than half of respondents to the survey said they did not feel able to “modify instructions” from management based on safety objections. The results showed a deterioration since a 2014 study, also by Ghent University, which found 82% of pilots said they felt able to modify instructions.
About 30% of pilots said they were sometimes reluctant to take safety decisions out of fear of possible negative consequences for their professional career.
“The shift toward in-flight sales responsibilities risks diluting the safety-centric nature of cabin crew work, creating role conflict, psychosocial strain, and legal ambiguities,” the study’s authors, Yves Jorens and Lien Valcke, wrote. “While commercial pressures may make such practices attractive for airlines, they come at a cost to worker wellbeing, safety standards and professional integrity.”
Participants in the study talked of a “Swiss cheese model”, with safety layers being “systematically weakened (poking extra holes) for financial reasons, leaving the final barrier to accidents dependent on chance and luck rather than robust protection”.
With the growing dominance of low-cost carriers, and a rebound in air traffic after the pandemic, crew are under pressure to work longer shifts, with fewer opportunities to rest. As a result, 42% of all crew say management prioritises scheduling over safety, the researchers found.
Fatigue is a persistent problem, with staff often feeling they cannot ask for rest even when they are tired or unwell. Nearly one in three pilots and almost half of cabin crew admitted they sometimes hesitate to declare themselves unfit to fly.
Crew were asked for their views, which were shared anonymously. One said: “I feel like a criminal just for being sick.” Another reported their European base manager shouting: “You’re here to fucking sell.”
Others complained of not feeling valued. One said their airline “treats me as a [number] and nothing else. There is no regard for mental wellbeing or physical wellbeing. It prides itself in profit over human wellbeing. It has a poor toxic workplace culture and a culture of fear. This fear originates from the amount of people they sack for stupid reasons.”
Asked about their health, and whether they felt airlines cared about their personal goals and wellbeing, 68% of all crew fell below the positive threshold for mental health, while 78% considered themselves “dehumanised”.
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The research found atypical employment, such as short-term or self-employed contracts, or agency work as opposed to direct employment by the airline, was a concern because those groups reported worse conditions and lower levels of wellbeing.
Younger age groups and those working in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other eastern European nations were more likely to hold atypical positions compared to older crew. Among the under-21s, 41% were in atypical employment, while 52% of eastern Europeans were on atypical contracts.
The intensity of work had increased compared with a decade ago due to digitalisation, automation and higher passenger volumes, leaving less time for crew to perform their tasks effectively, the authors said.
“A concerning trend is the increasing use of ‘management by fear,’ where wellbeing is not explicitly linked to safety outcomes,” the authors claim. “Atypical work hasn’t disappeared, and the risks it created a decade ago are now felt across the whole sector.”
The authors said that, without improvements to rules and contracts, Europe’s aviation industry risked losing its “safety edge”.
“Labour conditions are no longer just a social issue – they have an impact on safety, wellbeing and fatigue that are all interrelated. Without fair and stable employment, we cannot sustain a safe and resilient European aviation sector,” said Jorens.
Ignacio Plaza, the secretary general of the European Cockpit Association, the umbrella group for pilot unions, warned: “The race to the bottom on contracts now touches every pilot – and when pilots are under pressure, passengers feel the risk, too. These abuses demand urgent investigation.”
The International Air Transport Association has been approached for comment.
