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It was a great success and plans are already starting for next year’s conference. The European Cabin Crew committee and dedicated staff of EBAA presented an exciting conference filled with an interactive and hands-on line-up of programs on safety, security, service and culinary.
Safety and Security The agenda included a presentation which focused on our personal situational awareness for security and safety as we travel the world. Statistics show that there are more terrorists attacks at airports than other places and therefore it is more likely that our crews might encounter an active threat situation. They have to constantly be on alert for the abnormal occurrences in peoples' behavior and in their surroundings. We were introduced to recognizing an active threat, what action to take and how to survive an attack. Bydand Security Solutions offers online training programs and also in-house self-defense programs. Outstanding! Embry Riddle Aeronautical University made a safety presentation on crew resource management, the importance of the cabin crew and how they are to work for the betterment of the mission with the cockpit. Bob Walton, the Director of all European campuses shared stories of actual cases where the cabin crew was a crucial part of evacuating passengers and saving lives in real life accidents. Hypoxia. Yes we are all aware of the term, but have you had the opportunity to experience it? Air Care /FACTS brought with them a hypoxia trainer for anyone who wanted to experience the sensation and to be aware of how they would react and feel as hypoxia takes hold. For those brave individuals, FACTS provided them with a printout of their reaction times and physiological responses. And the agenda keeps rolling out informative programmes one after another. Yasmin Millner, Director of Corporate Flight Attendant Training shared her expertise on creating exceptional service prior to, during, and after the flight. She shared her ideas on creating hospitality and service techniques & styles to make the passenger feel welcomed, comfortable and at home on board. Yasmin, showed the attendees a new way to approach inflight service and her interactive presentation showed everyone what an incredible presenter filled with a wealth of information she is. Catering Carlos Catering, servicing numerous airports throughout Germany presented an excellent program on How to Order Catering. Their presentation was very well thought out and covered so many of the details the catering sources need to know in order to accurately place an order anywhere in the world. It definitely showed that they were professionals in the aviation catering business and can provide excellent service and food prepared and delivered to exacting requests. They also provided a sample order sheet for the attendees to download for their use in placing catering orders Well done to Carlos’s Catering. Howard Guy, CEO of Design Q, a leading aircraft interior design consultancy took us through the process of what is actually involved in designing a new galley and brought with him virtual glasses where the attendees could take a 3D walk through an aircraft of the future that is actually not currently built, but could experience the cabin virtually. So cool! Daniel Hulme, CEO of On Air Dining did a hands-on practice/demonstration of modern plating with a lesson in plating using positive and negative spaces. We all played with Catsup, that’s right Catsup - as its texture resembles an average sauce - so we could his swoosh, teardrop, dots, and line techniques. Daniel pointed out that when applying sauces, their location and the specific technique used is planned as part of the modern style. Exciting fun and as always On Air Dining presented a show-stopper program. Customs & Etiquette Corinne Kuta and Katie Gillespie - two of our committee members who regularly travel and live in the Middle East - presented modern day living in Saudi Arabia and other middle-eastern countries. They provided literature on dress codes, food, feast days and service from start to finish in collaboration with Air Culinaire. The visual aids, their helpful travel hints and catering ideas were full of information and details that are invaluable to cabin crew traveling into this region. This was a must see program if you are or planning to fly into the Kingdom. Wellbeing The next generation of healthy eating is upon us. It is a multi-stage process and involves DNA and a simple blood test to determine what and how your body synthesizes food. The tests show a personalized approach to the best foods (and the worst) and what gives your particular body that burst of energy - or enables you to slow down for a sleep period. With the addition of exercise designed and customized specifically for you, you now have the next generation of health and menu planning. Olly Hermon-Taylor, works in partnership with research teams studying physical changes in the body resulting from food & exercise - and insurance companies who offer discounted rates for those participating in the new food and nutrition programs. He also works with personal trainers developing personalized routines that can be done in the aircraft, or on the ground. Cabin Amenities The topic of cabin amenities was opened by Matthew Delamere. Matthew presented a very informative program on the use and care of linens, how to select linens for specific uses and how linens are made. We found the differences in branding and names of linens do have a special meaning and the point was driven home with each of the attendees allowed to actually touch and feel examples of different thread counts, finishes, and levels of Egyptian fabrics. COR soaps brought new insight to the attendees that specialty soaps now fall into the same category as the most expensive coffee, and the most expensive caviars in the world. We were introduced to a new product - soap that contains silver. According to the information provided: ”Silver helps fight bacteria and speeds up cell repair. The silver blocks bacteria’s ability to transfer oxygen through its cell walls, thereby suffocating it. That means washing and hydrating with Cor doesn’t just remove dirt- it’s truly protects the health of your face and skin. It nourishes the skin." I tested the cream on my right hand, pinching the skin to see how quickly it would relax after being applied. It was instant relax on the hand with the cream and the other hand took minutes to relax to flat from the pinch. The soap comes in a sphere; a full size sphere and a small travel-size sphere for aircraft. It never ceases to amaze me that mankind, along with science and technology, continue to create such incredible things to make our bodies age slower. Connecting Cabin Crew And . . . if all of this wasn’t enough to take in, Christine Mairesse made an outstanding announcement that EBAA is creating a pool of Cabin Attendants who want to be connected for operator members of EBAA and operators who want to be connected to qualified cabin attendants for part time and full time work. It is step one in a project she has been working on for quite some time. Brilliant idea; and the ideas she shared for the future of the project include bridges to vendors, pilots, and others involved in the flight. It will set a new standard for “what is a qualified” cabin crew member. The idea of an international aviation association taking this lead in creating the opportunity for people to connect to the perfect match for both the operator and the passenger is cutting edge. There will be more details to this as they unfold. Way to go EBAA and its forward thinking management team! As you can see, this conference was jam packed with outstanding programs from all directions in what is important to the cabin crew. If you attended, you are one of the fortunate ones, if you couldn’t attend, mark your calendars for Brussels 2017 September 11,12 ( or very close to those dates). I know next year will be filled with just as many exceptional speakers and programs. See you there!
Let me introduce myself . . . My name is Paula Kraft and I am founder and President of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.
Currently I am an active member of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Advisory Board and the NBAA International Flight Attendant Committee, Women in Corporate Aviation, Women in Aviation International, National Association of Catering Executives, International Flight Catering Association, the International Food Service Association and the International Caterer’s Association. I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA, EBAA and BA-Meetup conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery. I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after). So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.
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