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Organising Pilots in Sweden has a long tradition! Since 1937 - almost 70 years - Svensk Pilot Förening (SPF) has been an umbrella organization that has organized professional pilots in Sweden, both fixed wing and helicopter. The union represents today more than 1200 active pilots, with a further 365 members who are associate members.

Each airline or section with more than 25 active member pilots has an elected Master Executive Council (MEC) to manage its own internal affairs and its own collective labour agreement (CLA). It is the MEC who decides which representative(s) from the section will represent them on the SPF Association Management Board.

The different sections within SPF and the number of seats they have on the Board include today SAS-Sweden (5), TUI Nordic (1), Malmö Aviation (1), West Air (1), and Skyways (1). The Board internally appoints one of its members to serve as the Board chairman and it is the chairman who also acts as the association president.

The remaining pilots at the smaller carriers are grouped together and represented in the General Commercial section, which for moment is not organized by its members with an elected MEC. The Board is also responsible for managing both the domestic and international participation of the union in activities such as the ECA, IFALPA and meetings with different government bodies.

SPF General Secretary Michael Rongve is particularly pleased about the recent resurgence in SPF membership at charter airline Novair, which will soon have its own MEC and seat on the Board.

As Subpart Q on Flight Time Limitations comes into legislation SPF will be lobbying hard to ensure that Sweden respects the "non-regression" commitment outlined in the new FTL scheme.

The Scandinavian Points System, which is similar to the UK's CAP371, has been in use for the past 35 years and is based on scientific and medical research. "When EASA has thoroughly researched Subpart Q with the help of Europe's leading experts in the field of crew rostering, duty times and rest, and the Commission is following EASA's recommendations in the form of amendments to Subpart Q, then SPF will re-evaluate the situation," says Rongve.

Capt. Bob Arnesen