Here it is – more than ten years after the first publication from the European Cockpit Association (ECA) on Transnational Airlines (TNAs), we are now publishing the new TNA-Handbook. No development has brought more changes to our professional environment than liberalisation of the aviation industry from national borders. No other issue has kept us busier, has taken more resources than this. For years now, many of our discussions are about how to deal with this trend and how to find the right solutions for our members, the individual pilots flying for transnational airlines. And it is hard to find any that do not work in a transnational setup. Not only the many new business models that have flooded the market, since the European Union made the liberal

TNA HANDBOOK aviation industry reality. Also the trend of forming large airline groups (IAG, Air France/KLM & Lufthansa Group) has made an extensive use of the new possibilities & opportunities. As you are reading this handbook you show an interest in the trends in the industry. Most probably you are working for one of these companies that has expanded its business across the borders of its “motherland”, sometimes generating questions and concerns for those flying for them. With this handbook, we will give you an extensive summary of the state of the industry in this context. We will answer many of the questions that pilots from the many new airlines have brought forward over the years. Some of these questions seem very logical and evident but some others will require a little more background & explanation:

* Which labour law is applicable to my contract?
* What is the definition of my home base?
* How can pilots organise transnationally?

These questions – just to name a few – should be easy to answer for any individual working in the industry – but they are not! In a study from the Ghent University on “Atypical Employment in Aviation” a third of all pilots working under atypical employment answered that they did not know what labour law their employment was based on! These are shocking numbers and they should serve the industry as a warning signal that a worrisome trend has been established, which in the not too distant future could also impact safety. It is a shame for the European Union & its members that we have developed forms of employment (not only in aviation) that leave workers in uncertainty about their basic rights and obligations linked to the home base of their employment.

Flying for a TNA also brings the challenge of different terms and conditions across borders between colleagues wearing the same uniform and flying according to the same OM-A. Pilots, their national unions and ECA have developed many different ideas on Transnational Airline Pilot Groups.

TNA HANDBOOK
the past to assure that the borders of labour laws are not the borders of our representation. The missing counterpart to the vast transnational opportunities for airlines has to be replaced by these smart & creative ideas, but also by the support & engagement of all pilots! We have it in our hands; all we need to do is work together! How? This will be explored in the next pages. Thank you for reading!