Mumbai: Air India's troubles with getting their flights to depart on time seem to have much to do with the manner in which they schedule their flight attendants' duty.
While the aviation regulator's norms dictate that a flight attendant should not be rostered for more than 1,000 hours of flight duty in a year, the national carrier seems to be doing just that. "Around 30-40 of the 400 flight attendants based in Delhi who work on narrow-body aircraft such as A320 and A319 are currently being rostered for flight duty though they have crossed the maximum 1,000 hours-a-year duty limit," said an airline source. These are the flight attendants on AI's domestic network and on flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Islamabad, Kathmandu, among others. Several of them refuse flight duty as it amounts to violating DGCA norms, said the source and added that it was one of the reasons for AI's flight delays.
On the other side are flight attendants who can be legally rostered for flying, but the airline does not do so. "Even a cursory glance would reveal that those in charge of crew-scheduling punish some flight attendants by consistently rostering them on all-night flights with three to four take-offs/landings. The favoured lot gets flights from Delhi to Bangkok and Singapore with night halts," the source added.
24/11/14 Manu V/Times of India
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While the aviation regulator's norms dictate that a flight attendant should not be rostered for more than 1,000 hours of flight duty in a year, the national carrier seems to be doing just that. "Around 30-40 of the 400 flight attendants based in Delhi who work on narrow-body aircraft such as A320 and A319 are currently being rostered for flight duty though they have crossed the maximum 1,000 hours-a-year duty limit," said an airline source. These are the flight attendants on AI's domestic network and on flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Islamabad, Kathmandu, among others. Several of them refuse flight duty as it amounts to violating DGCA norms, said the source and added that it was one of the reasons for AI's flight delays.
On the other side are flight attendants who can be legally rostered for flying, but the airline does not do so. "Even a cursory glance would reveal that those in charge of crew-scheduling punish some flight attendants by consistently rostering them on all-night flights with three to four take-offs/landings. The favoured lot gets flights from Delhi to Bangkok and Singapore with night halts," the source added.
24/11/14 Manu V/Times of India
