British Airways Converting Pilots to Flight Attendants
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British Airways has begun a very queer experiment to deal with her dire shortage of cabin crew by persuading Pilots to take on the duties of flight attendants.
The BA aggressive search and the conversion of its personnel as flight attendants was contained in an official memo persuading office staff to volunteer and take up the challenge and be enlisted among the cabin crew.
Essentially, the emergency approach to workers’ shortfall is presently being hunted at BA’s CityFlyer, a British regional airline, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Airways with its head office based in Dewsbury, Manchester, England.
BA CityFlyer operates a network of domestic and European services from its base at London City Airport to about 26 destinations. All services operate with BA’s full colours, titles and flight numbers.
The British Airways’ memo to staff described the new request as a temporary arrangement dubbed “Take To The Skies” program. It is to enlist Pilots and office workers to temporarily serve as flight attendants until it resolves the existing yawning gap.
According to the Managing Director of the subsidiary, British Airways CityFlyer, Capt Tom Stoddart, “CityFlyer is so short-staffed on flight attendants that pilots and office workers are being recruited to temporarily work in that role”.
The memo explained that those who will take part in the program would undergo basic training to become flight attendants, and would then fly for a period of a minimum of two and a half months.
It further described to employees that the program is a way to “travel to a wide range of destinations,” “meet new people in the business,” and see “what it is really like for our crew to do their job.”
It is being assumed that most likely, staff would maintain their usual pay under this program, which seems like a costly initiative for pilots, wrote a contributor in reaction to the information on the airline’s Twitter handle.
The airline’s advertorial requesting for captains had the following conditions for applicants;
Job Description
“As a Direct Entry Captain, you will be expected to work flexibly within a growing and tight-knit team to deliver our demanding seven-day-a-week operation. Operating business and leisure flights throughout Europe, overseas night stops will be a feature of your touring roster”.
Requirements
Currently operating as Captain
Valid ME Instrument Rating
Valid Class 1 medical
Minimum 4000 hours total to include 1500 hours as PIC of a commercial jet/turboprop multi-crew aircraft with a takeoff weight of 20 tonnes or greater. The 1500 hours will not include any PICUS hours.
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