Air Malta insists international safety rules were met after eyebrows were raised over what appeared to be ‘contradictory’ instructions on the use of passenger seats next to the overwing emergency exits.
Flight personnel told this newspaper the national air carrier had recently issued written instructions to cockpit and cabin crew to leave the seats in question unattended if these were not sold at premium in line with company policy.
The crew members who spoke to this newspaper said the latest decision seemed to contradict both previous instructions issued by Air Malta as well as international aviation rules. These lay down that during take-off and landing, overwing seats must be occupied by able-bodied people to open the exits in case of an emergency.
Quoting a memo issued by the airline’s head of safety and compliance in 2012, the personnel said cabin crew members had to make sure the seats in question were occupied because “for safety reasons it was unacceptable” to leave them vacant.
“Cabin crew are expected to ensure that at least one seat in each row is occupied for take-off and landing and reseat passengers if required,” the 2012 memo had said.
However, in a recent memo, the chief officer flight operations told staff that, while “having passengers seated on overwing exit seats is intended as an additional measure enhancing cabin safety as well as enhancing revenue by offering these seats against a charge… it is not mandatory to have passengers seated on these seats”.
Cabin crew are expected to ensure that at least one seat in each row is occupied for take-off and landing
Staff members said this “contradictory” memo was causing unnecessary confusion among staff.
“Until a few weeks ago, it was a given that, if these extra leg-room seats are not sold, we would still put passengers in one of the seats over the wing near the emergency exit to make sure that, in case of a problem, someone is there,” a steward said. “Now, for some reason, they are not letting us do this and this goes against all safety rules,” he added.
“Who will man the overwing exit in case of an emergency? They [the airline] did not instruct crew members to sit next to these exits instead of passengers,” a female cabin crew member said.
Asked about the new decision, while not giving a reason for the apparent change in policy, an Air Malta spokesman insisted that safety remained the airline’s top priority.
“It has never been legally mandatory for seats in emergency exit rows to be occupied. When such seats are left empty, cabin crew are permitted to offer these seats to selected passengers. However, this is not mandatory, whether according to Air Malta policies or international legal requirements,” the spokesman said.
Asked why crew members were not instructed to allocate passengers to empty seats to handle the overwing emergency exits if need be, the spokesman said: “The aviation industry is highly regulated and Air Malta follows all instructions and legal requirements. Additionally, all our operating procedures are regularly audited by the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit, an internationally-recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of airlines.”