The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has invited NBAA to take part in the formulation of new rules that would differentiate rest requirements for on-demand aircraft charter operators from those that cover scheduled air carriers. Current EASA regulations on crew rest are “one size fits all,” said NBAA vice president for safety, security, operations and regulation Doug Carr. They make no allowances for the different nature of the on-demand charter business when compared to scheduled airline operations, NBAA said.

“This working group is the result of industry pressure on EASA to develop flight and rest limits that reflect the business that they regulate,” Carr said. “As a result of being a participant in this group, I’m walking away from our first meeting encouraged that the EASA has come to recognize that one size does not fit all, especially on this topic of rest regulation.”

Carr is one of 10 people in the working group, which was created to formulate crew-rest regulations for European on-demand operators by November 1. In 2005, NBAA participated in an FAA working group that issued recommendations on this very topic, though–more than seven years later–that effort has not yet yielded results.

Carr expects that the group will be able to present its proposals to the EASA sometime between 2015 and 2016.