Flight Attendants Union writes to Tourism Chairperson, concerned over request to health authorities

The Flight Attendants Union (FAU) has expressed serious concern over what it describes as an “extremely irresponsible” request made by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando to the Director General of Health Services, to remove the requirement of wearing PPE by flight crew who are fully vaccinated.

FAU is the sole representative of the cabin crew of SriLankan Airlines.

In the letter to Fernando, FAU President Sidath Dedigama said that Sri Lanka was currently under lockdown due to the potent variant of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus, and for the lockdown to be successful, all in the travel industry had to act with great responsibility.

“It is mainly inside an aircraft (where we are frontline staff) that new viruses enter our island nation. Vaccinated or not, crew can get infected, carry the virus, and infect others. As such, to act with utmost responsibility is a primary duty of ours whilst navigating through a global pandemic,” FAU said.

The letter also said the FAU wholeheartedly supported responsible tourism, wherein primarily the citizens of the nation are protected and the tourists who travel to Sri Lanka are truly protected and made to understand that they are travelling to a destination that has taken precautions to duly protect them from COVID-19, instead of letting the guard down and placing them in grave danger. 

Fernando has been told to first protect Lankan citizens. “To the tourist, please portray Sri Lanka as a safe destination, a country that has taken responsible and due precautions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of tourists who chose to travel to our resplendent isle. To the world, please paint a picture of our nation as a responsible tourist destination and not one of ignorance and or greed,” the FAU letter has said. 

It alleged that her insinuation that frontline staff had to let their guard down in order to promote the destination “is a direct insinuation that the very tourists you are trying to bring down to Sri Lanka are gullible beyond being conscious of a global pandemic”.

FAU charged that the picture Fernando was attempting to paint to the tourist was false and misleading, especially at a time a highly infectious variant of the virus was prevalent in Sri Lanka.

FAU advised the Sri Lanka Tourism Chief that it was responsible tourism that the country should promote and not be reckless in our misguided attempt to woo tourists.

“You must understand that for cabin crew to be clad in such PPE for long durations inside an aircraft is an arduous task, nonetheless a lifesaving necessity we are compelled to endure during a pandemic. We don such PPE not by choice but by genuine necessity. We will be the first to drop the PPE when it is opportune and safe not only for us but also the passenger,” the letter stated. 

Since the advent of the new potent variant of the virus to Sri Lanka, the FAU said as a responsible union it had worked diligently with the SriLankan Airlines management in enhancing the health and safety protocols, thus ensuring that the crew and passengers were duly protected from the virus. 

“By way of an extensive health and safety assessment spanning several days and over 17 hours of strenuous studying and reviewing each and every vulnerability of our in-flight service we have endeavoured to identify every point in which the passengers and crew could be susceptible to contamination from the virus. 

“The extensive health and safety assessment carried out and remedial actions taken in keeping to WHO, IATA and ICAO standards has enabled us to declare that we are one of the safest airlines in the world for passengers to travel, being assured that they are protected from infection during flight. 

“Notwithstanding the foregoing, as a predominantly Buddhist nation we implore you that you desist from trying to mislead and misguide our passengers, but resort to the Gautama Buddha’s doctrine of being truthful and genuine in our course of action which will indeed ensure responsible tourism. 

“Whilst our jobs depend on the very tourist you are trying to woo by deception, it is our position that we have a greater duty of care to the passengers we carry in our aircraft,” the FAU letter said. “As such, as a responsible union we reiterate that responsible tourism should be what is promoted for Sri Lanka, by way of genuinely being responsible for their safety and wellbeing.”