Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what procedures are in place to ensure aircraft maintenance crews are (a) fit to work and (b) not overtired.

The Civil Aviation Authority has statutory responsibility for the safety regulation of UK airlines. It carries out regular audits and inspection of all UK operators and approved maintenance organisations to ensure they comply with all safety requirements.

The Civil Aviation Authority has worked with British Airways to ensure that the airline has addressed the issues identified by the investigation in to the recent incident at Heathrow Airport. In addition, seminars are being carried out across industry to highlight the lessons learnt from the event.