Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol Program (FADAP) Conference
(August 23, 2019) — The 9th Annual Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol (FADAP) Conference was held this week at the Maritime Conference Center in Baltimore. AFA was successful in achieving government authorization for this program overseen by the FAA, while labor, management, and regulators all participate to make it work in order to promote safety and security through treatment and consistent recovery. More than 300 people attended this year with representatives from 26 airlines, including Air Canada, Alaska, Allegiant, American, British Airways, Compass, Delta, Endeavor, Envoy, Frontier, Hawaiian, Horizon, jetBlue, Mesa, National Business Aviation Association, Omni Air, Piedmont, PSA, Quantas, Republic, SkyWest, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, United and WestJet.
During the conference, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy shared his experience with mental illness and addiction - turning his greatest challenge into concrete steps to destigmatize and ensure parity of care for mental illness and addiction. Patrick implored the group to call on Congress to allocate resources to address mental illness and addiction much like our country has done with cancer and HIV research and treatment. His book, A Common Struggle, not only details the challenges of mental illness and addiction, it also provides a guide for members of the public to advocate for solutions. Another panel featured Flight Attendant union representatives and management from United, PSA, Sun Country Southwest, and Alaska sharing their experience and success working together on Flight Attendant wellness.
