According to the Safety Assessment of Company Aircraft (SACA) audits performed by Turkish Airlines and the Safety Assessment of National Aircraft (SANA) audits performed by Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation since 15 May 2013, there have been no findings against the rules, and that would risk company's flight safety.
The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) is calling on international aviation authorities to investigate allegations that Turkish Airlines (THY) is playing with safety by flying airplanes with insufficient or unqualified crew in order to get around a strike by THY workers protesting at unfair sackings.
The Hava-Is union, which represents THY workers, went on strike ON 15 may 2013 over the company’s failure to reinstate unfairly staffed workers and negotiate over rest periods. It has alerted the ITF to the reported attempts by THY to circumvent the strike. It believes THY is running several flights at below its own set crewing levels and has provided documentary evidence in the form of crew lists for two such flights, TK40 (an A340) from Istanbul to Capetown via Johannesburg on 16/5/2013, which shows a total cabin crew of only seven rather than the eight THY’s rules demand for. In a second case, flight TK26, a 777 flying from Istanbul to Shanghai on 16/5/13 had a full complement of eight cabin crew, but this was achieved by using a cabin crew member who was not yet qualified for such a flight, only holding a certificate for A340s, not 777s.
ITF civil aviation section section secretary Gabriel Mocho stated: “These are serious allegations. They suggest an urgent need for the civil aviation authorities in THY destination countries to check what is going on on the flights arriving and leaving their jurisdictions. Safety cannot be compromised.”
Dr. Ali Genc, SVP Media Relations Turkish Airlines says conserning the allegations by the Hava-Is union about 15 May 2013 strike at Turkish Airlines:
Such allegations, which also took place in the national press since the beginning of the strike at Turkish Airlines as of 15 May 2013, have been evaluated by both our Corporation and Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation and necessary investigations have been made.
As a result of these investigations, it has been found out that during the operations of Turkish Airlines in that period there was not a single practice against the national or international civil aviation rules and regulations.
According to the Safety Assessment of Company Aircraft (SACA) audits performed by Turkish Airlines and the Safety Assessment of National Aircraft (SANA) audits performed by Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation since 15 May 2013, there have been no findings against the rules, and that would risk our flight safety.
Moreover, there has not been any finding that would risk our flight safety in Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) audits conducted at Turkish Airlines destinations abroad.
This situation has been shared with the public both through a press release by Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 16.05.2013 and through the Tweeter account of the CEO’s Office at Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 20.05.2013.
The press release of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 16.05.2013 can be reached through the link at http://web.shgm.gov.tr/kurumsal.php?page=duyurular&id=1&haber_id=2902. The tweeter message of the CEO’s Office at Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 20.05.2013 can be reached at https://twitter.com/SHGM.
Although it is alleged in the news published at the website www.traveldailynews.com on 20 May 2013 that there were only 7 flight attendants -as opposed the required 8 flight attendants- on the TK40 Istanbul-Capetown flight on 16 May, Turkish Airlines records indicate that the flight was conducted with 9 flight attendants on board.
Again in the news published on the same date at the website www.traveldailynews.com, it is alleged that there was a flight attendant who had A340 certificate instead of a B777 certificate on the TK26 flight from Istanbul to Shanghai with B777 on May 16 2013. However, Turkish Airlines records show that the flight was carried out with 10 flight attendants, 9 of whom had B777 certificates and one had both B777 and A340 certificates.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
