Budget airlines ‘prioritise cost over safety’ – The rapid expansion of low-cost flying has led to a fall in airline safety standards, the ITF has claimed (The Telegraph – UK)
July 7, 2011
Gabriel Mocho, civil aviation secretary at ITF, which represents more than 275 unions in aviation, said that many airlines now “prioritise cost over safety” and called on authorities to address growing concern among its members.
His comments follow the grounding of the Singapore-based Tiger Airways’ Australian operations on July 2 after authorities ruled that the budget carrier posed a “serious and imminent risk to air safety”. Tiger Airways has been involved in several incidents this year, including two in which its aircraft descended below the minimum safe altitude and two in which its aircraft flew dangerously close to others.
Mr Mocho said: “There’s been so much expansion in the low-cost sector, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, that there are worries that the regulation that is needed, and which traditionally applies to airlines, hasn’t caught up.
“The regulatory authorities are going to have to look more widely than at just one airline. We believe that the reported decreases in safety and pilot training are a direct consequence of that low-cost model and that there is a price to pay for such low fares and deregulation – and it is safety.”
Although the federation’s biggest concerns are over Asian airlines, Mr Mocho claimed that European carriers were taking advantage of labour laws to hire workers from abroad who were cheaper but not necessarily as well trained.