A study commissioned by an airline trade group and released
Tuesday warns that the result will be higher costs that would force carriers to
cut flights and raise fares.
The trade group wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down
a 2021 appeals court ruling which held that California-based flight crews are
covered by the state’s requirement that workers be free from all job duties for
10 minutes every four hours and for a 30-minute meal break every five hours,
even during flights.
The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco came in a lawsuit filed by flight attendants for California-based
Virgin America, which was bought by Alaska Airlines in 2016 and no longer
exists.
The dispute boils down to a question of who gets to write
labor regulations covering airline workers.
The Federal Aviation Administration sets safety standards
for airlines, including minimum rest requirements for pilots and flight
attendants to guard against fatigue that could lead to accidents. The industry
argues that since deregulation in 1978, FAA’s authority has pre-empted states’
efforts to oversee airlines.
Airline officials are terrified by the prospect of facing a
patchwork of state rules that they say would add complexity and cost to their
operations. Officials of the trade group Airlines for America said this week
that 19 other states have rules on employee breaks and could apply them to
flight crews unless the Supreme Court overturns the ruling against Virgin
America.
Lawyers for the flight attendants who sued Virgin America
say the 1978 deregulation law gave the federal government sole authority over
airline prices, routes and services but not other regulations affecting
airlines. They say the appeals court ruled properly and there is no reason for
the Supreme Court to review the matter.
Airlines already follow the California rest-break
requirements for ground workers such as bag handlers and gate agents, according
to the trade group officials.
The Biden administration’s solicitor general has not taken a
position on whether the Supreme Court should hear the case. The airline trade
group’s release of a report warning of dire consequences appears designed to
put pressure on the administration to take the industry’s side before the high
court.
The study by Canadian consulting firm InterVistas estimates that
airlines would need additional pilots and flight attendants to comply with the
California law. They might also make more frequent stops on flights using
California-based flight crews. Depending on the approach, the changes would
cost the industry between $3.5 billion and $8.5 billion a year, according to
the consultant.
A more likely response — closing employee bases in
California so that no airline flight crews are based there — would be much
cheaper. However, that would require out-of-state flight attendants and pilots
to commute to and from their flights, and it could introduce more uncertainty
to staffing flights in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other California cities.
The nation’s largest union of flight attendants said crew
rest was just one issue on which airlines are fighting against their employees.
“Management claims they couldn’t possibly keep up with state
laws, but at every turn from Washington to California to New York and Illinois
they’re working overtime to deny aviation workers adequate nutrition, rest, and
sick leave,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight
Attendants.
Current FAA rules set a maximum work day of 14 hours for
flight attendants, after which they need at least nine hours off before their
next shift.
The FAA has proposed adding an hour of rest between shifts
without shortening the 14-hour duty period. Flight crews can take meal breaks,
but — contrary to the California law — they must remain on duty.
The Supreme Court case is Virgin America Inc. v. Bernstein,
21-260. -AP