Flight Attendant News

Flight attendants in Canada are speaking out against their federal government's plan to reduce the ratio of cabin crew to passengers on Canadian commercial aircraft.

The Toronto Star reports that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents Air Canada's flight attendants, is launching an advertising campaign to alert the traveling public that the plan could compromise safety. They cite the recent Air France accident at Toronto as an example of why a higher flight attendant to passenger ratio is beneficial:

"A full crew of 10 highly trained and fast acting flight attendants saved everyone on Air France Flight 358 after it crashed in Toronto this summer," the ad says. "Even though flight attendants are safety professionals who save lives, Ottawa is poised to cut the required minimum number of flight attendants by up to 25 per cent.

"With fewer hands on deck, do you like these odds?"

In response to the advertising campaign, a spokesperson for Transport Canada is quoted as saying, "The union is just trying to keep jobs."

Currently, Canadian law requires airlines to have one flight attendant on board for every 40 passengers. Transport Canada is considering a move to change that ratio to one attendant for every 50 passengers, although the ratio differs for different types of aircraft.

The flight attendants argue that they are the safety professionals who save lives in the event of an emergency evacuation.

...there were 10 flight attendants on board the doomed Air France Airbus 340 for 297 passengers, which represented a one to 30 ratio, exceeding the French requirement. "Only eight flight attendants would be required on a Canadian carrier under the proposed Transport Canada rules on such wide body aircraft."

U.S. law essentially requires one flight attendant for every 50 seats on a commercial aircraft. The proposed change in the requirement for Canada would parallel that of the U.S.