The notion of human resource management is an extremely challenging endeavor in such a stressful context as commercial airlines, as both flight attendants, airport workers, and pilots deal with such issues as fatigue, stress, and health challenges of flying long distances. For this reason, once non-stop long-haul flights are initiated by an airline, HR management’s primary concern should be the well-being of pilots and flight attendants, as their alertness explicitly affects the lives of dozens of people. Hence, the challenge they face is the issue of securing proper rest in between flights.
According to Gillet and Tremblay, long-haul flights alter the sleep/wake patterns of flight attendants and pilots, resulting in a physical and emotional strain that affects their ability to function properly and communicate with people. One of the solutions, in this case, maybe to promote proper rest patterns before the flights by providing workers with the facilities for rest based located on the airport premises. Moreover, scheduling is vital in terms of equally allocating workload between the employees.
Another important issue is the specifics of communicating with the passengers prior to and during long-haul flights. Thus, for example, there are many people who feel rather stressed before the flight, including the passengers who might have some healthproblems prone to deteriorate during the flight. Although HR management does not explicitly deal with the customers’ concerns, it is the manager’s responsibility to conduct an exhaustive series of training for flight attendants to deal with these issues, including conflict resolution techniques and first aid training. Hence, it may be concluded that long-haul flights, while exhausting for both employees and passengers, should be a concern for HR managers who are responsible for the staff’s alertness during the flight and proper rest before the flight and afterward.