Air India’s New Policy For Cabin Crew A Threat To Passenger’s Safety?

Bhubaneswar: Unhappy with Air India’s new room-sharing policy, members of cabin crew have complained to the airline’s CEO Campbell Wilson and Chief Human Resource Officer Ravindra Kumar that it could pose a threat to the safety of passengers.

In their complaint, the cabin crew have expressed the view that the room-sharing policy will impact their rest requirements during layovers and inversely could affect their work onboard a flight.

Some believe that the new policy might violate Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules for rest timings to avoid crew fatigue during flight duty.

The crew’s concern is that if they are sharing rooms, while one person may like to rest before duty, the other employee could wish to unwind by watching television, thereby creating disturbance for his/her roommate.

Arun Kapur, former safety and emergency procedures instructor for cabin crew training at Air India, is not in favour of the room-sharing policy.

“It is not kind; it is not safe,” Kapur told The Hindu.

On October 1, Air India informed its cabin crew about the “policy changes for layover entitlements, leisure travel, and gratuity, among others,” according to The Hindu.

As per the new policy, the seniors and cabin crew will have to share rooms during layovers. Only cabin managers and cabin executives will be allotted single rooms.

The new policy is due to come into effect from December 1, 2024.

It has been drafted keeping in mind the merger of the airline with Vistara, which has the same policy for its crew.