Sunwing to operate with fewer flight attendants
Vacationers heading down south on Sunwing Airlines this December will see fewer flight attendants on board, due to Transport Canada’s rule changes.
By: Vanessa Lu Business reporter, Published on Tue Oct 29 2013
Toronto Star
Vacationers heading down south on Sunwing Airlines this December will see fewer flight attendants when they board planes, due to Transport Canada’s rule changes.
Sunwing, which is flying 32 aircraft this winter season, expects to operate with four cabin crew instead of the current five on its Boeing 737 jets beginning in December.
On Oct. 18, Transport Canada granted Sunwing the ability to operate with one flight attendant for every 50 passenger seats, instead the current ratio of one flight attendant per 40 passenger seats.
While the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents flight attendants, says fewer staff would have an impact on safety in the event of an emergency, Sunwing believes it can operate with a smaller cabin crew.
“I don’t believe this is a safety issue,” said Sunwing president Mark Williams in an interview. “The standard around the rest of world is one flight attendant for 50 seats including the U.S. and Western Europe.
“We are just now moving to what is an accepted international standard,” Williams said. “We’re comfortable that both from service perspective and a safety perspective that this is an appropriate thing to do.”
Mark Brancelj, president of CUPE Local 4055, which represents up to 1,000 Sunwing flight attendants, says Transport Canada has consistently backed the 1 to 40 ratio until this year.
“Nothing has changed. The aircraft are the same, and the crews are the same. There’s nothing to indicate it would be as safe to move to a 1:50 ratio,” he said.
Despite the international rules, Brancelj said, “As a Canadian, I would hope that our government would hold us to a higher standard.”
Sunwing’s Williams says the airline does not anticipate any job losses as a result of the ratio change.
“We have a seasonal business that peaks in the winter. We have recalled all of our flight attendants who were with us last year, and hired a few more,” he said.
In May, WestJet Airlines was the first Canadian carrier to win an exemption to the rule.
“Once WestJet got an exemption granted, we felt it was appropriate for us to ask for the same exemption,” Williams said.
WestJet began implementing the staffing change across all its flights this month, after amending operations and flight manuals as well as crew member training programs.
Depending on the plane configuration, WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer said some flights have three flight attendants while others have four flight attendants.
“The change happened on Oct. 1, and it has gone very smoothly,” Palmer said in an email. The airline feared it would face a temporary surplus of flight attendants with the rule change, but staffing issues have been resolved through various options including buyouts.
WestJet estimates the ratio change will result in $30 million in annual savings for the company.
Transport Canada says it is confident the same levels of safety will be maintained under the new ratio, and argued the change puts airlines on a more competitive footing with other carriers, notably in the United States.
Air Canada filed a similar request in September, and its leisure carrier Rouge also recently asked for the change. Transport Canada is considering the requests.
“All air operators are entitled to make an exemption request to Transport Canada and every request would be given equal consideration and assessed on its own merit,” said Transport Canada spokeswoman Karine Martel.
She acknowledged that Transport Canada intends to move ahead with a regulatory change, so that Canadian airlines can adopt this ratio without seeking an exemption, though no timeline has been set for the change.
Martel added that the 1 to 50 ratio is the international norm, and it is used by U.S. and European carriers on every day, “including when they are in Canadian airspace.”
Air Transat said it has not filed a request for the ratio change, though it is analyzing the situation.
Earlier this year, Transat flight attendants agreed to cost-cutting measure to eliminate one flight attendant on the wide-body Airbus 330 planes. That means there are now 10 flight attendants on a plane that seats about 345 passengers.
