First Air puts 15 new flight attendant trainees through their paces

Airline prepares for arrival of three B737-400 aircraft

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

First Air’s new flight attendant trainees pose for a picture on a passenger boarding staircase in front of the airline’s Boeing 767 freighter. (PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST AIR)


First Air’s new flight attendant trainees pose for a picture on a passenger boarding staircase in front of the airline’s Boeing 767 freighter. (PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST AIR)

First Air, along with its Nunavut-based subsidiaries, Qikiqtani First Aviation and Sakku First Aviation, have taken on 15 new flight attendants who all passed a rigorous training course in Ottawa.

“The increase in passenger loads on our scheduled service, combined with an increased demand for our charter services, has opened up several flight attendant positions across our system,” Brock Friesen, First Air’s president and CEO, said in a news release.

He said First Air is also planning for the acquisition later this year of three new Boeing 737 400-series jet aircraft, which will require more crew planning.

During an “intensive” three-week training period, the flight attendant recruits studied industry regulations, crew communications, security procedures, safety procedures, evacuation procedures, emergency equipment, live fire fighting, dangerous goods handling, special passenger briefings, customer service and aircraft specifics.

Students passed six exams, all of which required a passing grade of 90 per cent.

And before starting the course, students had to pass the Inflight Institute’s online flight attendant pre-qualification course, which required about 40 extra hours of study.

The flight attendant trainees will now enter a new training phase called “line indoctrination,” which involves on-the-job testing by a qualified flight attendant.

“I am excited to now be a flight attendant for First Air. It was hard work but I am looking forward to starting my new career and travelling to the communities,” Jane Flaherty-Lambe of Grise Fiord, who speaks Inuktitut, English and French, said in the news release.

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