You might want to ask, what does it take to become a flight attendant in Nigeria? Well, in this post, we will share with you the step-by-step guide on how to become a flight attendant in Nigeria. Here you will see the education, qualifications and skills needed for this career choice.
In Nigeria today, it is not surprising to see young, beautiful ladies who desire to be flight attendants or air hostesses. The allure, thrill, and exposure that comes with the job are definitely the things pull young ladies towards this career path.
Air hostesses are basically customer service personnel to passengers on aircraft. They have the job of helping passengers with virtual services on an aeroplane, directing the activities of the aircraft cabin, as well as taking inventory of all items in the cabin before takeoff and after landing.
Being a flight attendant requires interacting and relating with people from across the country and the globe, as such, good interpersonal skills are required on the job.
As a flight attendant, you cannot be rude, uncouth, or brash in your dealings with the people you come across daily on the job. It’s why ladies are mostly preferred for it because they have a more tender, soft-spoken, and receptive persona.
If you’re a lady with a desire to become a flight attendant, then this article is for you. Here in this article, we’ll be giving you a breakdown of what you need to be a flight attendant, as well as your role and the opportunities available to you as a flight attendant.
What does a flight attendant do?
As earlier stated, a flight attendant or air hostess is a customer service personnel on an aircraft. Their primary job before, during, and after takeoff is to ensure that passengers enjoy the safety and comfort of air travel by providing them with adequate customer services.
Flight attendants have the responsibility of creating and maintaining a conducive atmosphere for customers within the aircraft. They also perform some administrative responsibilities. Quickly, we’ll look at some of the responsibilities of flight attendants on an aircraft;
Duties of a Flight Attendant
Passenger comfort
The primary job of flight attendants is to ensure the comfort and safety of passengers on an aircraft. Flight attendants spend the majority of the flight – before, during, and after – ensuring that passengers have pleasant travel experience.
Pre-flight, they help passengers with their luggage, as well as direct them to their seats. They also distribute sleep blankets and masks, magazines, and headsets to passengers once they’re seated.
During the flight, they serve passengers food and beverages, as well as offer other virtual services to them. After the flight, they help passengers offload their luggage from the aircraft, as well as assist them to exit the plane.
These duties require that a flight attendant possess good people skills, especially in the area of communication, tolerance, and accommodation. As such, if you’re looking to become a flight attendant, it is important you add these skills to your skillset.
Read Also: How to Do Flight Booking in Nigeria
Passenger safety
Alongside passenger comfort, passenger safety is another primary job of flight attendants. As regards passenger’s safety, flight attendants have the job of providing safety information and performing safety demonstrations to/for passengers to teach them how to take the various security measures and use safety gadgets during emergency situations on the aircraft.
They’re also tasked with ensuring that all aircraft doors are securely shut, securing any loose items within and around the cabin, and ensuring that all safety equipment on the aircraft is functioning properly.
They also caution passengers who go against security precautions on the aircraft, administer first-aid to passengers during emergency medical situations, as well as assist passengers with an emergency exit during emergency landings.
Administrative duties
Administrative duties of a flight attendant include attending flight briefings before takeoff, taking inventory of refreshments and first-aid equipment, keeping track of money earned from purchases during the flight, and submitting flight reports to the airline after the flight.
Benefits of being a flight attendant
Being a flight attendant or an air hostess has quite a number of advantages attached to it, most especially the exposure and connections the job brings your way. We’ll quickly outline the benefits of being a flight attendant below;
1. Exposure
Being a flight attendant/air hostess gives you the opportunity to travel the world, and this broadens your horizons and exposes you to a lot of new and exciting experiences.
On the job, you’re exposed to new places, people, and cultures. As such, your perspective widens and you begin to see the world in a whole new light.
This exposure is also important to your people skills. Meeting new people from different climes and cultures does a lot for you in improving your communication and approach.
You begin to see that there are different ways of doing things, depending on where people come from, and this deepens your understanding and tolerance level when relating to people on the job.
2. An opportunity to connect
As a flight attendant, you meet various people from across the globe on your travels, many of them highly influential.
This offers you an opportunity to connect and widen your network. Building meaningful connections and a wide business network is important to every career.
At one point or the other in your career, and even in life, you’ll need these influential connections. However, it is not just about career/business connections.
You could also make and build valuable friendships as a flight attendant. Flight attending is a job that has a lot to do with relating to people, and as you do this, you make meaningful friendships along the way.
3. A healthy paycheck
The pay for a flight attendant is also quite interesting, with a said monthly earning of around N100, 000 for domestic flights, a figure that increases when you go on international travels. Sounds great, right? I know.
What it takes to be a flight attendant in Nigeria
Like in every other career, there are requirements to be met before you become a flight attendant.
Degree certifications are an obvious requirement, as you’ll be required to attend an aviation college and possess a certificate from there before applying for jobs.
Also, certain personality traits and skills are needed on the job, and you must possess these if you desire to pursue a career as a flight attendant. Briefly, we’ll look at some of the requirements you’ll need to become a flight attendant in Nigeria.
1. A university degree
While this is not a necessity as many airlines do not prioritise it when considering you for a job, there is no denying the obvious edge a university degree gives you in any professional career path.
With that in mind, having a university degree, preferably a degree in tourism and hospitality, would not be out of place if you desire to be a flight attendant.
2. Interpersonal skills
The job of a flight attendant is one that requires you to interact with people on a daily basis. For this interaction process to be smooth, you must possess good interpersonal skills.
Listening, effective communication, courtesy, emotional intelligence and empathy are just some of the interpersonal skills you’ll be needing on the job. If you desire to be a flight attendant, then you’ll need to develop these skills if you don’t already have them.
3. Be physically appealing
Physical appearance is also key to becoming a flight attendant. While you must not possess a Victoria Secret Model figure, you should at least be attractive and with a height of at least 5’3.
Also, in addition to your physical appearance, you should possess poise, grace, and a tender persona. This will make it easier for passengers to approach and relate to you.
Keeping a soft smile as you go about your job is one of the major ways to exhibit tenderness. We all know how therapeutic a lady’s smile can be in any situation, don’t we?
4. Be at least 18 years of age
Flight attendants in Nigeria are required to be at least 18 years of age before applying for the job (although most airlines have an age requirement of 21 years and above). There is also the tendency for airlines to employ younger women over older ones.
5. Fluency in at least 2 internationally recognized languages
This requirement is majorly for flight attendants who handle international trips. Being fluent in another language, aside English, which is the official language of Nigeria, is a major requirement if you want to work international trips. Spanish and French are two international recognized languages you could learn.
6. A valid international passport
This is also another major requirement for international flight attendants. All international flight attendants, and in fact, all members of an airline’s cabin crew who work international trips are required to possess a valid international passport.
Read more: 8 Requirements to Get International Passport in Nigeria
7. Good Medical health
As a flight attendant, you’re required to be physically and mentally healthy, and without any obvious physical defects that could hinder you from carrying out your job smoothly.
8. Go to an aviation school
Obviously the most important requirement needed to become a flight attendant. There are quite a number of good aviation schools in Nigeria you can attend and get your aviation certification.
One of them is the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria, Kaduna state. It is the foremost aviation college in the country, with a tuition fee of around N500,000.
Alongside the NCAT are Eagleair Flight Training Center, located in Minna state, International Aviation College, located in Kwara State, and Universal School of Aviation, located in Lagos State. Each one of these schools has state-of-the-art facilities and highly trained teaching personnel to groom you in your required aviation course.
Conclusion
The job of a flight attendant is a fun and exciting one. The allure of travelling around the country and the globe, coupled with the exposure, and the connections you’ll make along the way make the job worthwhile.
If your desire is to be a flight attendant, we hope this article has been helpful in putting you through what you’ll need to achieve that dream. Let us know.