Latam to be allowed to fly with smaller crew - Valor International
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Latam expects to get a clearance this week from the National Agency of Civil Aviation (Anac) to fly with a smaller crew number. According to the agency, the permission can be published on Wednesday's edition of the Daily Gazette. The same authorization has already been granted to the Gol and Azul airlines.
The challenge for the sector has been the escalation in the number of pilots and flight attendants contaminated by the omicron variant and by influenza, which has taken many of them away from work and hampered the operation. Thousands of flights had to be canceled by Azul and Latam, which were already operating close to or above pre-pandemic levels, which left companies with less leeway to reallocate employees. Gol said it did not have cancellations for this reason.
The Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulation 121 establishes that airplanes with a seating capacity of more than 100 passengers must have two flight attendants, plus an additional flight attendant for each unit (or part of a unit) of 50 passenger seats (i.e. an airplane with 180 seats, but with 120 passengers, it would still need four flight attendants).
What Anac has temporarily authorized is that the number of passengers will apply. That is, a plane with 180 seats, but with 120 passengers, will be able to fly with three flight attendants.
The authorization for Latam, to be published, will be valid until March 17, according to Anac. The company basically operates with A320neo and A320 (both with 176 seats) and A319 (140 seats) and the A321 (216 seats). In a statement, the company said that it has filed the request and is awaiting a response from ANAC.
In the case of Gol, the measure was published on Tuesday and is valid for Boeing 737-800 and 737-MAX aircraft, both with capacity for 186 passengers. In the case of Gol, the exception is valid until March 14.
Azul's authorization was published on January 13t and will be valid until March 13. The exception applies to the Embraer E2 (136 seats) and E1 (118) models and the Airbus A320 (174 seats).
