While the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) supports an increase in cabin crew standards wherever a safety need is identified, it said the limited usefulness of a minimum level of training and the potential for actually compromising safety are the reasons it cannot support cabin crew licensing.

"A Cabin Crew licensing system will not ensure minimum standards of safety and may even decrease current levels of safety, since a license will not ensure training in an individual airline's Safety Operating Procedures," said the organization. "While pilots and engineers' licensed skills are transferable to other airline operators, those of cabin crew are not, since aircraft configurations (location of emergency exits, seat layout, etc.) vary among operators even with the same aircraft type. Cabin crew taking 'licence' qualifications at training schools will not have undertaken an airline's own recruitment, vetting and training procedures. They would have to be retrained for individual airlines' Safety Operating Procedures in order to ensure full safety compliance. However, there will be no legal obligation on airlines to carry out this training if the cabin crew are already 'licensed'. Crew Resource Management (CRM) issues of cabin crew not trained by the company may also become a safety issue."

The statement was prompted by EU OPS, a new regulation designed to strengthen passenger and aircraft safety by ensuring that EU Member States legally impose the high standards of cabin crew training and supervision now voluntary under the JAA system. The EU OPS Regulation Document has been developed from the existing technical JAR OPS over several years, through negotiation with diverse experts. A common position has been reached among all partners, although some airlines disagree with the details of certain provisions. Regardless, implementation has been delayed by union lobbying.