Drug and alcohol tests for BA staff

The tests will be introduced next year

British Airways is introducing random alcohol and drug testing for staff following allegations that a pilot reported for duty after drinking the equivalent of 10 pints of beer.

It is the first major European airline to introduce the tests, which will come into force next year.

A working group has been established to look into the form of testing to be used and it will consider breath tests or blood tests.

It is not yet known how many staff will be subject to the regulations.

Five pilots have been formally suspended and nine other staff have been withdrawn from flying duties while BA makes further investigations into allegations made by Channel 4's Dispatches programme.

'Endemic drinking culture'

The programme alleged that a BA captain drank the equivalent of 10 pints of beer before entering the cockpit of a passenger jet.

The pilot reported for duty for the flight from Barcelona to London and slept through the entire journey, according to the programme.

It also claimed that there was a "endemic" drinking culture among BA flight crews.

It said that 10 of the 12 pilots secretly filmed broke BA's own drinking regulations before reporting for duty.

Two British Airways pilots have lost their jobs over drink and drug allegations in the last five years and other airlines have been forced to take action against air crew.

Sacked

British Airways Captain John Ralph was sacked three years ago after arriving for work at Los Angeles airport while under the influence of alcohol.

Confidence in air crews was further questioned when a pilot working for a company handling BA flights was revealed to be a heroin addict.

A News of the World investigation reported how Daniel Gregory bragged about downing shots of heroin-substitute methadone while flying for BAC Express Airlines throughout Britain and Ireland.

Last year, rival airline Virgin had to reassure passengers after one of its pilots resigned amid allegations of drunkenness on a flight from Madrid to Brussels.

In January this year the captain of a Royal Air Maroc Boeing-737 was refused permission to take off from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam because he was drunk.