AVCP - I think that you will find the answer you require in your company ‘
Operations Manual / Parts A & B’. These manuals should be available to you in your crew room(s), and aboard the aircraft ( usually in the flight deck ) wherein they, along with parts C, D, and E, govern everything which you and you airline should be doing, i.e. ‘by the book’ so to speak.
So that you can get the idea as to how the information is spread out, I’ve
précised for you ( see below ) the relevant sections, w.r.t. your question, from my own employers / Astraeus’ Ops Manual Part A ( though do check in your company’s, lest there be differences to ours ) :
4.1.2 - Cabin Crew - Minimum Complement
On a flight on which at least one passenger is carried, there shall be carried not less than one cabin crew member for every 50, or fractions of 50 passenger seats installed in the aircraft. The minimum number of cabin crew for the Astraeus 737 is 3.
So what happens if you get down route and one of your cabin crew companions is unable to operate the flight, e.g. they’re feeling unwell ?
4.1.2.1 - Cabin Crew - Reduced Complement
4.1.2.1.1 Commercial Flights - In exceptional circumstances, away from base and with the Captain’s agreement, a flight may be operated with 2 cabin crew subject to the following conditions:
- Owing to unforeseen circumstances there are no other cabin crew available to operate the flight.
- The maximum passenger load is 70, to be seated near the forward doors, ensuring that the aircraft is in trim according to the loadsheet Centre of Gravity position.
- The crew includes an Astraeus qualified Senior Cabin Crew member.
- Cabin crew positions are Cabin Crew No 1 – door 1L inboard; Cabin Crew No 2 – door 2R inboard.
- The reduced flight complement is authorised by the Operations Director.
So what about infants ?
8.1.7 - Mass and Centre of Gravity
8.1.7.1 Definitions
(e) Passenger classification
(iii) Infants – persons who are less than 2 years of age.
8.8.5 - Use Of Oxygen Equipment
8.8.5.5 As there are four oxygen masks available above each triple row of seats on Astraeus aircraft the carriage of infants is restricted to one per row.
As you can see, ( on a B737 ) you would normally have a minumum of three cabin crew, i.e. 1 per 50 pax - though if down route, and subject to certain provisos, you can operate with less.
It's been put to me ( by one of my cabin crew colleagues ) that the 10% infants to pax ratio, as was specified by CAP360, has now been superseeded by JAR and is now an equipment requirement, i.e. not withstanding the limit on available O2 masks, the number of infants is limited by the number of extension seatbelts and infant lifejackets that are carried onboard.
In Astraeus' case we
normally, on the B737, only carry 16 extension seatbelts and 16 infant lifejackets and thus we could only carry 16 infants.... that is unless we knew in advance wherein we would be able to equip with more extension seatbelts & lifejackets.... the ultimate limit then being the O2 masks restriction, i.e. one infant per row ( i.e. 25 rows, so no more than 25 infants ).
W.r.t. the O2 masks above each seat row, the point here is that if, say, you as cabin crew are caught mid-cabin during a de-pressurisation - and if every row had one infant sitting in it - there is sufficient O2 masks for the pax, the infants, and for you too to don.
Nb. Some B737's have three O2 masks on one side of the aisle and four O2 masks on the other side, and in this instance the carriage of infants is further restricted / reduced and wherein the infant must be seated (with parent) on the side of the aisle that has four O2 masks - the idea here is that there is always a mask available for the pax & their infants and, most importantly, that there's one within reach for YOU !
Hope this helps.