As of February 14, 2021, new requirements for random alcohol testing of flight and cabin crewmembers as introduced by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1042 have begun within European Union Member States.
Despite implementation in February of this year, concerns were expressed about alcohol testing and the FAA made recommendations to consider U.S. air carrier testing programs when implementing this new regulation. EASA will consider using some of these program features. As a result, flight and cabin crewmembers flying in and out of European Union Member States may now be subject to random alcohol testing as part of the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) inspection program.
The implementation of this regulation may directly affect U.S. based Flight Attendants and for this reason we remind you that you may be subject to random alcohol testing when flying in and out of European Union Member States. You are obligated to comply with testing requests in the same manner as you would random DOT testing.
If you have additional questions, please contact your Local EAP/Professional Standards Committee for a further explanation.