During the pandemic, many cabin crew lost their jobs and ended up moving out of the aviation industry. When recalled by airlines post-pandemic, some never returned or retired early instead of rejoining. But also, many airlines dropped cabin crew salaries to cut costs and some have added age limits, alienating a large sector of the job market. This has led to an influx of young and inexperienced cabin crew. Here we take a look at the need for experienced crew – shouldn’t the airlines know better?

Legalities

In terms of scheduling a flight, the operator or airline should take into account the experience of each cabin crew member, according to EASA guidelines. A crew member should have at least three months operating as a crew member. The operator should also state in the operations manuals how much experience their crew should have before flying solo (in terms of private jets or small aircraft types with under 50 passengers).

This also applies to senior cabin crew members and how many years of experience are required before promotion. There should never be less than 50% of the cabin crew on a flight with significant experience.

Training

Every cabin crew member has to complete a full training program as stated in the operations manual, and is very specific. The cabin crew then has to visit an example of the aircraft type and go through the various equipment onboard. After this, they will do a number of supernumerary or familiarization…