Emma Kakololo
31 May 2005
Windhoek — NATIONAL air carrier, Air Namibia, will for the first time in its history join the rest of the aviation world when it celebrates the Day of the Cabin Crew today.
The day has its roots from a conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil about 29 years ago as a means to create public awareness about the profession. Ever since its inception, the day is being celebrated in the same fashion around the globe. Cabin crew administration head at Air Namibia, Anna-Marie Gertze, told New Era yesterday that the "profession does not yet enjoy the recognition it deserves".
"There is still this misconception that we are purely there for serving drinks. That is a misconception. Our primary responsibility is to provide safety measures to passengers on flight and to attend to their well-being, comfort and needs," she stated.
In the past, although previous management was aware of the day, they were either too ignorant about it or there was simply no time to hold the celebrations.
"I am new in this position and we also have a new cabin crew and I know about these things. That's why I want to introduce them," she stated.
"We have a positive attitude, new management and new crew and also our new uniforms will be introduced on 1 July,' she added.
Gertze explained that due to time constraints, this year there will be no big celebration, but only media awareness campaigns. She said her company would also send two of its crew members to participate in the Annual International Mr & Miss Airline competition in Jordan to mark the day. "But due to political uncertainty in Jordan, the competition has been postponed until further notice," she said.
She noted that out of the 13 cabin crew members that were interviewed for this competition by the panel of judges about their job, Sven Koegenberg and Rubeena Martin came out on top.
Gertze explained to those interested in a job as cabin attendants that their applications should meet the entry requirements, which amongst others include a well-groomed image, a minimum height of 1,6 meters, the weight in proportion with the height, be at least 20 years of age, have a Grade 12 certificate and present a medical examination report.
Cabin crew members are also required to be able to swim with life jackets for at least ten metres.
During training courses, a certain percentage is required, such as Emergencies, 90 per cent; Aviation Medicine, 80 per cent and Passenger Handling, 80 per cent.
Courses also include the handling of dangerous goods, aviation security, crew resource management, customer care, team building, fire-fighting, ditching, evacuation drills, grooming and wine courses.
Some 98 cabin crew members are currently employed by Air Namibia.
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