Francesco Gaetani is EASA’s Flight Standards Director since October 2025. He is responsible for the development of regulations and standardisation of EU National Authorities in the domains of Aircraft Maintenance, Production, Operations, Aircrew, Medical, Aerodromes and Air Traffic Management. His responsibilities also cover the oversight of organisations outside the EU in these domains.
Francesco joined EASA in 2014 as Air Operations Standardisation Team Leader and one year later was appointed manager of the Air Operations Standardisation Section, responsible for the standardisation of EU National Authorities in this domain. In 2017, he also became a member of the ICAO Flight Operations Panel, a position which he held for 5 years. In 2018, the Section expanded its remit taking on the coordination of the EU Ramp Inspection Programme.
In 2021, Francesco took up the post of Chief Pilot, responsible for the implementation of the Agency’s pilot competence scheme and technical advisor to senior management on pilot matters.
In 2022, Francesco was appointed Head of Aircrew & Medical Department, responsible for developing regulations, standardisation of EU National Authorities and oversight of organisations in the areas of aircrew training, flight simulators and medical certification for pilots and air traffic controllers.
Prior to joining EASA, from 1998 to 2013, Francesco flew for Alitalia on the MD-80 and the B-777 fleets. Besides flying, he took up ground duties as safety officer, operational standard officer, lead quality auditor and regulations manager for flight operations, crew training and flight simulators.
Francesco graduated from the Italian Naval Academy in 1990, earning his degree in maritime science. Soon after, he underwent aviation training at the US Navy to become a naval aviator and combat-ready on the AV-8B II Harrier Plus. He then joined the Italian Navy Harrier squadron, where he served as pilot and Head of Operations and Training Department until 1997.