For pilots and cabin crew to perform well during flights, they must be fed and it is the duty of airlines to give them food, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said Thursday in a memo to airlines that was prompted by reports that carriers were neglecting the practice of feeding their own people.
The July 23 memo released Thursday is to take effect immediately, according to CAAP.
Fatigue and hunger may have been factors that led to the pilot error that caused an aircraft of budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) to veer off the runway at the Davao International Airport last June 2. This was taken in consideration by CAAP in writing the memo.
“We have always provided meals for our crew,” Cebu Pacific spokesperson Candice Iyog told GMA News Online in a text message in response to the order.
A representative of Philippine Airlines, who declined to be named, affirmed the same. “PAL provides inflight meals for flight crew and cabin crew,” the source said in a text message.
In the memo, CAAP deputy director general Capt. John Andrews noted that the agency had received reports that cockpit and cabin crew were not being allotted inflight meals.
Andrews said such practice places the unnecessary burden of letting airline personnel on flight duty secure and buy their own food from sources of unknown reputation when it comes to sanitation in food preparation.
“In the interest of safety, all carriers are hereby directed to provide adequate and separate kind of meals to their cockpit crew during their flight duties. Also, company-provided meals should likewise be extended to their cabin crew,” Andrews’ memo read.
By letting their own people buy their own food, airlines are exposing their pilots and cabin crew to risks, according to CAAP.
“Thus, flight crews are unreasonably exposed to food contamination or poisoning which may adversely affect their job performance or possibly result to incapacitation during their flight duties,” said Andrews.
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