Qantas bid to jettison attendants
Mon "The Australian" 2/9/02
Qantas bid to jettison attendants
By Steve Creedy
September 02, 2002
QANTAS wants a reduction in the number of flight attendants it is required to have on flights.
The airline will lodge a submission to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, asking that the Australian minimum of one flight attendant per 36 passengers be changed to one attendant per 50 passengers.
While Qantas says it has no immediate plans to cut the numbers of cabin crew, it wants the flexibility to do so in response to competition from no-frills carriers.
CASA's review of air safety regulations has proposed keeping the current level but Qantas argues the ratio is unique to Australia and was designed for 1950s aircraft.
Competitors such as Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Emirates, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic all operate under the 1:50 ratio, as does Qantas alliance partner British Airways.
"Across the Tasman, Air New Zealand has the competitive advantage of regulations with a similar ratio," said Qantas executive general manager operations David Forsyth.
Mr Forsyth said Qantas believed it would be another 10 years before the regulations were reviewed again and the country could not afford to lock in the 1:36 ratio. He said the biggest threat came from proposals for Australia and New Zealand to recognise each other's regulatory regimes.
This could allow a New Zealand company to operate domestic and trans-Tasman services on the 1:50 ratio while Qantas was "significantly disadvantaged" on the 1:36 ratio.
Mr Forsyth said Qantas and international airlines wanting to give reasonable service operated with ratios of between 1:20 and 1:30.
"It's really only when you get down to the bare bones, low-cost operators like the Ryanairs and the EasyJets that they're really operating on the minimums," he said. "But that's the way the rest of the world's going and it will eventually happen here."
The latest push comes as a CASA proposal to allow pilots to perform routine visual checks now carried out by licensed engineers has raised fears that serious faults could go undetected.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association said the proposal was cost-driven and would reduce standards.