Base manager
The ground manager responsible for the cabin crew at one base: attendance, performance, welfare and discipline.
Definition
A base manager runs the cabin crew community at a particular base on behalf of the airline. They handle sickness and attendance monitoring, performance reviews, grievances, welfare cases and disciplinary processes, and they are the first line of management for pursers and crew alike. At multi-base airlines each base has one; at single-hub carriers the role is split by fleet or by groups of several hundred crew.
What it means for you
Your base manager is the person who signs off your probation, notices a sick-day pattern before you do and approves a base transfer or part-time request. Most crew meet them only at induction and at an annual review, which is exactly what you want; a good working relationship matters most in the year when you need something, whether a transfer, a medical accommodation or a defence in an investigation.
In practice
A new easyJet crew member at Manchester who takes sick days either side of a rostered weekend twice in probation can expect an attendance meeting with the base manager, and at that stage the airline can still end the contract without a lengthy process.
Related terms
4 terms- ProbationRecruitmentThe initial months of employment during which the airline can end your contract at short notice — and at some carriers pays you less.
- BaseCrew lifeThe airport where your duties start and end and where you must live within reach — the single fact that most shapes a cabin crew life.
- TransferCrew lifeMoving to another crew base, fleet or company role — by seniority bid at US carriers, by vacancy and approval almost everywhere else.
- Chief purserRoles & ranksThe top cabin rank at airlines with a two-tier purser structure, leading multiple pursers on wide-body and ultra-long-haul flights.