Pilots have the support of the public over concerns about planned changes to the number of hours they are allowed to fly, their union has said.
A survey of more than 2,000 adults for the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) showed that nine out of 10 would be worried about being in an aircraft flown by a pilot who has been awake for 22 hours.
Balpa said proposed flying rules being voted on by MEPs in October would lead to pilots operating long-haul flights with two rather than three crew members, working up to seven early starts in a row and being awake for 22 hours if standby hours are taken into account.
Balpa general secretary Jim McAuslan said: “The British public are understandably concerned about their pilots being awake for 22 hours before landing a plane under new EU rules.
“Evidence shows this is similar to being four times over the legal alcohol limit for flying.
“The time is running out for our ministers, MEPs, the UK regulator and MPs to take urgent action and reject these unsafe EU rules to ensure that the skies above Britain remain among the safest in the world.”
The European Commission said safety was the only objective of its proposal to revise the current EU rules in relation to flight time limitations.