INFLUENTIAL FACTORS OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS’ FATIGUE - EVIDENCE FROM AIRLINE COMPANIES IN TAIWAN

Abstract

Fatigue poses an important safety risk to aviation, while it has been suggested as a key human factor which influences crew's working ability and flight safety. Flight attendants are in the first line to serve customers and also play an important role in flight safety. Thus, the modified Delphi method and grey correlation analysis are used to find the influential factors of the fatigue. Furthermore, the weight analysis and ranking of the fatigue factors of the flight attendants are discussed in the study context of the analytic hierarchy process. The results show that the company’s planning and scheduling have the highest weight of fatigue. Furthermore, a load factor of 80% appears tiring for the crew, despite the fact that the number of flight attendants meets the legal requirements. In fact, this has the highest weight of fatigue in short-haul flights, unlike long-haul flights where the weight differs. Research findings may have managerial implications to airlines and relevant government agencies towards fatigue’s reduction and improvement of flight attendants’ working life.