Easa recently submitted a corresponding application to the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO on behalf of its member states, including Germany.
The Europeans hope that they will now draw up regulations on how flights with only one person in the cockpit could work legally and safely in the future.
Above all, they expect one thing: lower costs for the airlines, which would then also have fewer worries about recruiting.
However, the advance did not cause everyone to be enthusiastic.
Richard de Crespigny was the captain of an Airbus A380 for the Australian airline Qantas in November 2010.
Shortly after takeoff from Singapore, an engine exploded, debris damaging the wing, landing gear, tanks and more.
Nevertheless, the crew managed the masterly feat of bringing all 440 passengers and 29 crew members safely to the ground.
Would de Crespigny have done it on his own?
Hardly likely.
"Planes are designed to be flown by two fully competent, trained pilots," he says.
"The system fails if you don't have two pilots in the seats."
Luckily, the redundancy principle has prevailed in aviation: all important systems are at least duplicated.
A cockpit crew halved to one person would be a blatant violation of this rule, as they had only half the resources at their disposal in an emergency.
And yet that is exactly what will happen.
Not immediately, but soon.
Many airlines around the world would like at least relaxed cockpit operations, with only one person looking at the screens and instruments when cruising.
The other person sleeps or rests meanwhile.
Only in the most critical phases of flight, take-off and landing, would both pilots be in their seats.
In this way, the airlines could carry out long-haul flights with just two instead of the usual three pilots, of whom two are now working and one is taking a break.
Airbus and the airline Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong are already preparing such flights with a reduced crew, and they could become reality as early as 2027.
But it won't stop there.
Cargo planes are likely to be the first to be flown by a single crew, because their cargo is not afraid of flying.
But big passenger planes?
Airbus has already successfully tested its A350 in autonomous operation.
The giant aircraft, equipped with special sensors and artificial intelligence, started rolling on the runway, stayed on track and, according to the rules of the art, took off at the right time without the intervention of a pilot.
The landing was also fully automatic and did not use the external aids that are usual today, such as GPS data or the ILS landing system.
Everything the A350 needed in terms of landing technology was on board.
Nobody dares to put paying passengers in such experimental machines.
But the technology of the future is being developed now, and it is foreseeable that the increasing automation in a new generation of aircraft will eventually take over the cockpit almost completely.
The flying robot approved for intercontinental human transport, which may also tolerate a semi-skilled assistant in the cockpit next to it, will not come in 2025 or 2035. But what about 2050 or 2060?
Much will also depend on what passengers are willing to accept - and what not.
Yours sincerely,
Marco Evers
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