Air operations
Air Operations with Cabin Crew
General information and access to the profession
If you wish to work as a Passenger Cabin Crew (TCP) within a Member State, you must;
at least 18 years of age;
B) be in possession of a valid Passenger Cabin Crew Certificate (Attestation), issued by any Member State as specified in Annex V to Regulation 1178/2011. It is a certificate of professional competence that allows him to perform the functions of Passenger Cabin Crew on aircraft registered in the European Community. For more information you can consult the following section of Initial Training and Cabina Crew Member Certificate.
have been assessed, in accordance with the applicable requirements of Annex IV (Part-MED) to Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, as physically and mentally fit to perform their duties and to perform their responsibilities safely. For more information you can consult the section of Aeronautical Medicine.
Holders of a valid cabin crew member certificate shall only operate on an aircraft if they are qualified in accordance with the applicable requirements of Part-ORO of Regulation 965/2012. To be qualified for an aircraft type or variant, the operator shall:
1. it shall comply with the applicable training, verification and validity requirements, which cover in a relevant manner the aircraft on which it is to operate:
specific aircraft type training, operator conversion training and familiarisation;
II) Difference training,
regular training; and
2. shall have exercised its activity in the aircraft type concerned during the previous six months, or have completed the refresher course and related verification before re-operating on that aircraft type.
Therefore, once the Passenger Cabin Crew Certificate has been obtained, it may exercise its privileges in an air operator provided that it has completed the Conversion training of the aircraft type and the operator for at least one type of aircraft in accordance with the programme approved in the Operating Manual of an operator, in accordance with Subpart-CC of Regulation 965/2012. Upon completion of this training, the operator will provide you with a record as proof of such training. It will detail the types and variants of aeroplane that it is authorised to operate. In addition, it shall indicate the date on which the next training and annual verification is required for the type of aeroplane or variant(s). This certificate of qualification of aircraft types/variants is only valid for that particular operator.
To perform functions in a different operator, you must re-complete the conversion of the aircraft type and the operator into the new operator. Additionally, for each operator, all applicable trainings and verifications required by this regulation must be successfully completed. For more information about the regulatory requirements, please consult the section on Regulations and Requirements applicable to Air Operations with Cabin Crew.
All trainings for the formation of a TCP shall meet the following conditions:
for each type of course, a programme must be developed to be approved by EASA.
the training course shall be divided into theoretical knowledge and practical instruction, if applicable.
it shall be taught by properly qualified instructors and examiners in the field to be taught.
Initial Training and Cabina Crew Member Certificate
In order to obtain the Passenger Cabin Crew Certificate (Attestation), the applicant must be at least 18 years of age and have successfully completed the initial training course required in accordance with Annex V (PART-CC) of Regulation 1178/2011. Cabin crew member certificates shall only be issued to applicants who have passed the post-completion examination of the initial training course.
In Spain, the initial training required may be given in training organisations or commercial air transport operators duly approved to perform these functions by the competent authority (ESA). The content of the initial training programme is as described in Appendix 1 of Annex V (Part-CC) to Regulation 1178/2011.
In relation to the requirements to be met by training organisations authorised by the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA), you can find specific information in the section of Crew Training of Cabin of Passengers.
Those air operators who wish to provide the Initial Training, must first apply for an approval. You can consult the requirements for the application for such approval in the following Guide Material published by AESA — Information Cabin Crew Training Approval and you can also consult the guide published by EASA Guidelines on the conduct of Initial training for Cabin Crew.
Annex V (Part-CC) to Regulation 1178/2011 specifies that cabin crew member certificates may be issued by the competent authority, or by an organisation approved for this purpose by the competent authority. In the case of Spain, the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) is established as the competent authority for issuing the cabin crew member certificate. For more information on the Initial Certificate application procedure, please refer to the TCP Certificates section.
With regard to the validity of the cabin crew member certificate, cabin crew member certificates shall be issued for an unlimited duration and shall remain valid, unless:
are suspended or revoked by the competent authority; or
its holder has not exercised the corresponding privileges during the preceding 60 months on at least one type of aircraft.
Functions, Responsibilities and Composition of Cabin Crew
- be responsible for the proper performance of all safety-related functions of the aircraft and its occupants specified in the instructions and procedures set out by the Operator in its operations manual.
- Inform the commander of any failure, failure, deficiency or defect which, in his opinion, may affect the airworthiness or operational safety of the aircraft and of any incident that has or could have endangered the safety of the operation, unless it has already been reported by another crew member.
- comply with the relevant requirements of the operator’s occurrence reporting system;
- respect all flight and service time (FTL) limitations as well as rest requirements applicable to its activities) shall keep its individual record of flight and service hours and rest periods up-to-date in accordance with the applicable FTL requirements and provide each operator with the data necessary to plan the activities in accordance with the applicable FTL requirements.
- not perform any function on board an aircraft under the effects of psychoactive substances or alcohol, or when it is incapacitated due to injury, fatigue, medication, illness or any other similar cause, until a reasonable period has elapsed after performing an underwater dive or blood donation and if it does not meet the applicable medical requirements, if it doubts its ability to perform the assigned tasks, or if it knows that it suffers or is likely to suffer from fatigue, as referred to in point 7.5 of Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, or feels incapacitated, to the extent that the flight is endangered.
- in addition, the surcharge shall be responsible to the commander for the conduct and coordination of the normal and emergency procedures specified in the operations manual, including the interruption of non-safety-related functions for safety or safety reasons.
As defined in Annex I to Regulation 965/2012, a ‘cockpit crew member’ is a duly qualified crew member, other than a flight crew member or technical crew member, designated by an operator to carry out tasks related to passenger and flight safety during operations.
There are additional requirements for commercial air transport operations; where the presence of more than one cabin crew member is required, the composition of the cabin crew shall include an operator-designated surcharge. An operator may designate cabin crew members only if:
1) have at least 1 year of experience as an operational cabin crew member; and
2) have completed a training course on surcharge and related verifications.
The main tasks and responsibilities of a TCP and the surcharge are:
Regulations and requirements applicable to air operations with cabin crew
- Regulation 1178/2011, commonly referred to as “Aircrew”, and in particular its Annex IV (PART-MED), which lays down the medical fitness requirements for cabin crew members and its Annex V (PART-CC), which lays down the requirements for the issuance of a cabin crew member certificate (attestation), the conditions for its validity and use by its holders and the specific training requirements for its applicants and holders.
- Regulation 965/2012, commonly referred to as “Air Operations”. Subpart CC sets out the requirements to be met by the operator when operating a cabin crew aircraft and includes:
The legislation applicable to Passenger Cabin Crew is based on the European regulations proposed by EASA and approved by the European Commission.
Regulation 2018/1139 is the basic regulation from which all regulations in the field of aeronautics emanate.
The main documents regulating the requirements affecting a cabin crew member and air operations with TCPs are:
section 1, which specifies the common requirements applicable to all operations; and
section 2, which specifies the additional requirements exclusively applicable to commercial air transport operations.
In the following link of Regulations and Guide Material you can find the aforementioned regulations.
Material Guide and links of interest
Below, you can find other Guide Material and useful links related to cabin crew, FTL and cabin safety:
