Pilot HOS Rules Tightened; Cargo Exempted

As it has with trucking rules, the federal government has tightened hours-of-service rules for airline pilots, while exempting air cargo pilots.

Carriers have two years to adapt to the new rules, which the Federal Aviation Administration estimated would cost the airline industry $297 million over 10 years, the Associated Press reported.

That’s a fraction of the $2 billion a year that an airline trade association had estimated that an FAA draft proposal would cost, AP said.

The cargo-pilot exemption prompted a suit by the union representing UPS Inc. pilots, Bloomberg reported.

The Independent Pilots Association filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington seeking to have cargo operators covered, Bloomberg said.

A UPS spokesman, while declining to comment on the suit, told Bloomberg that cargo flying was different from that passenger flying.