Flight Attendant News

This will be the final post in this blog for 2006 as we take off for a week or so to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. We'll be back to posting news for and about flight attendants around the world in the first week of January. 2007.

In the meantime, why don't you have a look at our Aircrew Health website. Here area few pages on the website that are of special interest to cabin crew:

• Cabin Crew News
• Cabin Safety Issues & News
• Aircraft Cabin Air Quality
  

We wish all the best to our readers and we hope that cabin crew all over the world have a healthy, safe, and Happy 2007.

Cabin crew at UK-based airline easyJet will be wearing smart new uniforms in the new year. In order to come up with the new uniform design, the airline carried out a competition. Cabin crew members from various easyJet bases submitted design ideas, which were then voted on over a period of several months.

The winning design was announced yesterday on the Easier Travel website:

Almost eight months ago the search was on to create and design the new uniform of choice. After months of voting, the crew decided on three different designs.

Formal and Fabulous - designed by AnneMarie Cuffe from our Liverpool base, Joanne Todd and Kurt Wilson from our London Gatwick base.

Smart and Chic - designed by Leanne Fowgies from our Bristol base

Smart and Fabulous - is a Collaboration of Formal and fabulous & Smart and Chic, designed by Leanne Fowgies from our Bristol base, AnneMarie Cuffe from Liverpool and Joanne Todd & Kurt Wilson from London Gatwick.

The crew have had the final say and up until midday yesterday the designs were very close in competition, however easyJet are pleased to announce the winner is the Formal and Fabulous design.

Anne Marie Cuffe from Liverpool and Joanne Todd and Kurt Wilson from London Gatwick were delighted that their design will now enter the easyJet history books and been seen by millions across Europe on board next year.

Congratulations to Ms. Cuffe, Ms. Todd and Mr. Wilson for coming up with the winning design. It is indeed 'Formal and Fabulous.'

Click on the link below to see a photo of the new uniform.

Source: easyJet announce the new uniform across its European network - Easier Travel

Technorati Tags: airlines, cabin crew, easyJet, uniforms

Australian media sources are reporting that a Qantas flight attendant has been fired by the airline for acts of 'sabotage.'

Here is what the Sydney Morning Herald says:

One allegation against the flight attendant is that he shoved blankets down toilets on a number of international flights.

A 747 flight from Sydney to Los Angeles is understood to have been grounded for 24 hours while engineers worked to fix the toilets.

The man is also accused of tampering with phones used by crew to communicate with each other.

The national carrier said today it had dismissed the flight attendant because of malicious damage to its aircraft.

"Following a number of incidents involving malicious damage to Qantas aircraft and an investigation by Qantas Group Security, a long haul flight attendant has had their employment terminated," a Qantas spokesman said today.

A spokesperson said that the matter has been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.

Source: Qantas sacks flight attendant over 'sabotage' - Sydney Morning Herald

Technorati Tags: airlines, cabin crew, flight attendants, Qantas

Last month I posted a story on this blog about cabin crew in India -- all women -- who were grounded for being overweight. The women, most of whom are in their forties, believe that the weight restrictions are a ploy "to replace mature crew with skinnier women to survive in a highly competitive industry."

Sheela Joshi, one of the grounded women, was interviewed on an Australian radio show called "PM". She explained to the interviewer what she believes to be the real reason that she and her colleagues were grounded by Indian Airlines.

"Not the weight. The weight is never the issue for the image. You see if I'm half a kg over do you think it will spoil the image of the airline? I don't think so.

"You know, it's just they want to get rid of the senior cabin crew and they want the younger cabin crew because they can hire the younger lot in a much lower salary than us. But we have given our best time to the airline, the best youth time to airline. Now if we want to go and look for a job elsewhere, we have to start from scratch, you see.

"That's where we feel very bad about, you know, like after putting in 24, 25 years of service in airline, if they want to say that now you can say goodbye because they're getting a lower salary cabin crew. That really makes anybody upset because, you see, now, at this age you cannot find a job elsewhere."

The interview was broadcast around Australia on Radio National and ABC Local Radio. You can listen to the interview or read a transcript on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Here's the link:

Airline targets overweight flight attendants - Australian Broadcasting Corporation


Technorati Tags: airlines, cabin crew, discrimination, flight attendants, India, Indian Airlines, labor issues

A few days ago, a Continental Airlines B737 en route from IAH to PDX had to divert to COS after a passenger's battery-powered 'personal air purifier' caught fire. The fire spread to a passenger seat.

Flight attendants were able to extinguish the fire quickly, but after the plane landed, four cabin crew and a passenger were taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Now FlightGlobal.com is reporting that the distributor of the air purifier has halted sales of the device.

US distributor EcoQuest International, which supplies the purifier, branded the 'Fresh Air Buddy,' had previously admitted to clients that 0.01% of its units had experienced a "rare problem."

The company attributed this either to faulty lithium batteries or to the use of non-rechargeable lithium batteries which had been recharged.

Just a day before the Continental Airlines incident, EcoQuest publicly stated that the purifier was safe to use as long as customers did not attempt to recharge non-rechargeable batteries and install them in the device.

"In light of an incident over the weekend involving a 'Fresh Air Buddy' that resulted in an aircraft returning to the airport, we have decided to suspend the sale of the 'Buddy' indefinitely," says EcoQuest.

Los Angeles-based Wein Products manufactures the purifier and the batteries. EcoQuest adds that it has advised customers to discontinue using the equipment immediately until the cause of the problem has been established and a solution developed with Wein.

By the way, two years ago the FAA banned the shipping of non-rechargeable lithium batteries as freight on passenger flights because of potential fire risk, but continues to allow passengers to bring them aboard in aircraft cabins.

Go figure.

Update, Dec. 22, 2006: Here is the link to the NTSB's preliminary report on this incident: NTSB Brief. A tip of the hat to "MarkHkg" for posting that link on the Safety and Security section of the forum on the Corporate Flight Attendant Community website.

Source: Lithium batteries suspected in Continental Airlines Boeing 737 cabin fire - FlightGlobal.com

Technorati Tags: airliners, airlines, air travel, aviation safety, cabin crew, cabin safety, Continental Airlines, flight attendants

JetBlue Airways is seeking to reduce costs in a somewhat novel way. They plan to remove a row of seats from their A320 aircraft.

Hmm, you say, how will that reduce costs? Won't that mean fewer fare-paying passengers?

Yes it will, but it will also reduce the weight of the aircraft, thus potentially saving fuel costs. More importantly, perhaps, removing six seats from the aircraft will mean that each flight can operate with three flight attendants instead of four.

From an article from a Utah newspaper, The Deseret Morning News, republished on the Airport Business website:

"This is an employee reduction, not a seat reduction," said James Corridore, a Standard & Poor's analyst in New York. "It's the reduction in personnel that would be the real benefit."

JetBlue plans to move some of the attendants to the 14 aircraft it will add to its fleet next year and offer "voluntary time-off packages" to others, spokesman Bryan Baldwin said in an interview. It hasn't been determined how many attendants will be affected, he said.

"We are not anticipating that's going to be a big issue," he said.

...

Removing seats on the 96 A320s will increase to 36 inches from 32 the pitch, or distance from one seat back to another, for rows 1 to 11. Pitch for rows 12 to 25 will remain at 34 inches. The changes will begin in January and finish by March.

The work will be done during overnight maintenance at a "very, very small cost," Baldwin said, declining to be more specific. Baldwin also declined to say how much revenue JetBlue may lose with fewer seats.

"The potential for lost revenue from taking those six seats out was far outweighed by the cost savings," he said. JetBlue won't charge more for seats in the rows with more leg room, Baldwin said. "This is seen as a huge benefit in cost savings for us."

It will be interesting to see if this actually pans out as a business decision. The article also notes that, a number of years ago, American Airlines removed seats from planes "to provide more room for passengers," but then "reversed that decision three years later and restored 12,000 seats to its fleet because of the lost revenue."

Some passengers may enjoy a little extra legroom, but will they also enjoy a lower level of service due to the reduction in crew?

Source: JetBlue Removing Seats to Cut Costs - Airport Business

Technorati Tags: airlines, airline jobs, flight attendants, flight attendant jobs, JetBlue Airways

From an article on the Airport Business website:

Delta Air Lines Inc.'s commuter carrier won a bankruptcy judge's approval to cut wages for flight attendants and mechanics and end contributions to their pension plans.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin Jr. in White Plains, N.Y., on Friday authorized Comair Holdings to impose hourly wage cuts of 7.5 percent for the cabin crews and 2 percent for the maintenance workers. Hardin also approved an increase in contributions to workers' 401(k) plans costing $156,000 a year.

As reported here last month, Comair's flight attendants have voted to accept the cuts.

Source: Bankruptcy Judge Approves Pay Cuts for Comair Workers - Airport Business

Technorati Tags: airlines, cabin crew, Comair, flight attendants, labor issues

From the Manchester Evening News in England:

BRITISH Airways' decision to close its cabin crew base in Manchester, forcing staff to relocate to Heathrow, has been slammed by a north west MP.

Warrington North's Helen Jones, who has constituents who will be affected by the move, said BA had failed to justify the closure and had not consulted employees and unions.

Ms Jones said: "British Airways is putting severe pressure on a long-serving workforce, many with children, who, in the run-up to Christmas, will find any relocation to Heathrow traumatic."

Source: MP slams cabin crew closure - Manchester Evening News

Technorati Tags: airlines, British Airways, cabin crew

An article on FlightGlobal.com says that crew salaries at NetJets Europe are about to be increased "in an effort to stem the loss of personnel and attract new staff to its rapidly expanding fractional ownership and charter operation."

Flight attendants at NetJets Europe will see their basic pay rise from €41,000-46,000 to €48,350. Higher salaries are paid to employees with more seniority.

All personnel are 'locked in' for a maximum duty requirement of 50 days a quarter. According to NetJets business development manager Robert Dranitzke, "We are guaranteeing a roster of six days on and five days off all year, although crews on the our ultra-long-range aircraft, such as the Gulfstream V, will have a seven/six and six/five combination." Crews have the option to work an extra six days per year at an increased pay rate.

NetJets Europe is the largest operator of private jets, executive jets and business jets in Europe.

Source: NetJets Europe forced to improve pay by up to one-third to retain staff after 'unacceptable' 8% annual attrition - FlightGlobal.com

Technorati Tags: business jets, cabin crew, executive jets, flight attendants, labor contracts, NetJets Europe, private jets

Cabin Service Managers who work for Gulf Air will don stylish new uniforms later this week. At Gulf Air, Cabin Service Managers manage all aspects of the in-flight service including the supervision of the team of Flight Attendants. The new uniform will distinguish them from the rest of the crew "so that passengers can identify and approach them, should they require their services."

According to an article on the Al Bawaba website:

The new outfit has been designed by internationally renowned, Paris-based designer house, 'Creation & Image,' creators of Balmain brand uniforms.

"Gulf Air's inflight costume is a reflection of what Gulf Air is all about – the hallmark Arabian hospitality, warmth, presentation, progression, modernity and above all, our corporate statement," says Gulf Air Vice President of Marketing and Sales Lee Shave.

...

The entire Balmain Uniform Design Team worked for months to define the new image, under the guidance of its Artistic Director Christophe Galibert.

"We had several brainstorming sessions on how to express the soul, sprit and elegance of Gulf Air in the uniform," says Galibert.

"We have tried to fuse a timelessness and modernity at the same time without being too fancy and maintaining the visual link and identity with the cabin crew uniform."

Gulf Air employs 1,962 Flight Attendants representing 80 different nationalities out of which 270 are Cabin Service Managers.

Source: Gulf air to unveil avant-garde livery for cabin service managers - AlBawaba.com

Technorati Tags: airlines, cabin crew, Gulf Air, uniforms