BackCabin crew norms may deepen Air India losses
International safety requirements mandate a prescribed crew-passenger ratio that the airline is finding hard to meet
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Air India Ltd may have to operate flights with fewer passengers because of a shortage of cabin crew, which would push the loss-making airline deeper into the red.
International safety requirements mandate a prescribed crew-passenger ratio that the airline is finding hard to meet.
In an unusual move, the airline has asked its cabin crew to announce some aircraft doors as unserviceable in international flights and possibly offload passengers in case of a shortage of cabin crew reporting for a flight.
Indian aircraft rules stipulate an airline must have one crew for every 50 passengers onboard for any safety emergency evacuation. In Air India’s Boeing 777, for example, there are about 340 seats and 10 doors, which means 10 crew are required for each flight. If only nine crew members report for a flight, the passengers can be seated only along the other nine doors.
The new diktat is part of a circular Air India issued after it faced cabin crew shortage the past few months.
“Cabin crew are required to ensure that there is no delay to our flights on account of reasons that can be attributed to cabin crew and there should also not be any violation of DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) rules and regulations. It is reported that cabin crew are still not clear (on) complement requirement on board," D.X. Pais, Air India’s joint general manager, customer services, said in a 1 March circular, reviewed by Mint.
Pais addressed the circular to all cabin crew who fly on international routes.
“As per the safety rule requirements while deploying the cabin crew all floor level doors of aircraft are required to be manned. In the event Air India is not in a position to do so the unmanned door would be declared inoperative with implication on capacity and load," he added.
Capacity and loads refer to the number of passengers that can be flown onboard besides cargo.
An Air India spokesman said all flights were operating as per the DGCA’s rules and there had been no safety violations.
Air India has at least 350 daily flights to 31 international and 59 domestic cities. It has more than 3,000 cabin crew members on its rolls.
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