Flight attendants' union sees red over AirAsia's blue uniform for 'BN' jet

GE14 | AirAsia could have breached its own SOP when the cabin crew wore blue uniforms in an aircraft emblazoned with BN's election slogan “Hebatkan Negaraku” (Make my country greater), said the National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam).

The aircraft had ferried caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, to Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Photographs later showed the cabin crew clad in blue uniforms instead of their usual red-coloured ones.

According to Nufam, the airline had a written clause in its staff contract that barerd them from campaigning for political parties.

“If that was the case, then AirAsia could have breached its own SOP where the uniform of the cabin crew should not be used for any party’s political campaign.

“We received information from the staff themselves stating they were told to wear the blue uniform which was introduced for a political party,” it was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today.

According to Nufam, the crew were also not informed beforehand about the change of uniform colour.

“We demand that AirAsia come forward and clarify why this blue uniform was used. If their SOP states otherwise, then other political parties could also do the same.

“Even if the plane was a chartered flight, there was no reason to change the uniform. AirAsia could always stick to its standard red uniform,” added the union.

Nufam also claimed that aviation experts had opined AirAsia was violating its own security protocol by using its planes to campaign.

“There could be an incident of sabotage and something could have happened to the plane, thus endangering the lives of the crew and all on board,” it said.

Yesterday, AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes also praised Najib for putting the people first.

He urged Malaysians to vote based on facts and not hearsay. -Mkini