New Democrat MP Says Plan Should Be Scrapped to Reduce Flight Attendants

HALIFAX (CP) – A New Democrat MP says a move by Transport Canada to lower the ratio of flight attendants to passengers will compromise safety.

Peter Stoffer visited Halifax International Airport today with a group of flight attendants to argue that in the post 9-11 world, Transport Canada should be beefing up the number of attendants, not cutting back.

Transport Canada wants to reduce the number of flight attendants to one per 50 passengers from one per 40 passengers.

Airline attendants at the news conference said last year’s Air France crash in Toronto shows the value of extra flight attendants.

There were 10 flight attendants on that plane who safely evacuated all of the passengers.

Had Transport Canada changes been in effect, they say there would have been eight flight attendants on board.