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Airline Industry News
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Please take the time to read the letter below before reading Jerry's article:
Flight 3407 group finds ally on safety
By Jerry Zremski
NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Published:October 27, 2010, 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON — Regional airlines aren’t perceived as being as safe as their big-name partners, a business travelers group and the Families of Continental Flight 3407 stressed Tuesday at a National Transportation Safety Board symposium on the relationship between the two kinds of air carriers.
When the Business Travel Coalition surveyed its members, one respondent noted that at least one company keeps a “black list” that includes “certain carriers that they won’t allow their employees to fly on,” said Kevin Mitchell, the group’s chairman.
Also at the symposium, John Kausner — whose daughter, Ellyce, was one of 50 people killed in the February 2009 crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center — noted that his daughter bought her ticket on Continental’s Web site without knowing that the plane would be flown by a regional pilot who never would have been hired by Continental.
That airline — Colgan Air — “passed the buck” after the accident, as did Continental and the Federal Aviation Administration, Kausner said.
“And make no mistake about it: It’s all about the buck,” Kausner added.
John H. Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said major airlines have laid off highly paid, experienced pilots while contracting with regionals that hire pilots at far lower salaries.
“The industry turned its back on pilots with 5,000, 8,000, 10,000 hours of experience,” Prater said. Meanwhile, regional airlines know that those laid-off pilots “don’t want to work for these food stamp wages, so they say we’ll hire pilots right out of school.”
In response, Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, insisted there’s “one level of safety” for the regional airlines and the major carriers.
“Every carrier does recognize that it’s bad for business not to be as safe as you can be,” Cohen said.
Meanwhile, John Meenan, CEO of the Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, stressed that the declining number of accidents is proof that the commercial aviation system is safe.
But the last six fatal commercial plane crashes in the United States involved regionals. And Deborah A. P. Hersman, chairwoman of the safety board, emphasized that accidents are “learning opportunities” that the industry and the government can examine to make the system even safer.
The crash of Flight 3407 has proved to be just that, prompting legislation to require better pilot training and improved safety measures. Included in that new law is a provision requiring airlines to reveal exactly which regional airline will be operating the flight before a passenger buys a ticket.
“The families created the momentum behind the legislation signed by the president this summer,” Hersman said.
Tuesday, the families got evidence that they are not alone in voicing concerns about a safety gap at the regionals, which are contract operators that handle flights for the majors.
Two-thirds of corporate travel managers surveyed said business travelers had expressed concerns about the safety differences between major and regional airlines.
“Indeed, a majority of corporations indicates that they would be willing to pay much higher air fares in return for higher safety standards at the regional airlines,” the Business Travel Coalition said in its survey report.
In addition, more than three-quarters of the 212 travel managers surveyed this month said business travelers are often confused about who’s really flying their airplane.
In response to the safety concerns, the airline industry has pushed back.
In fact, the FAA appointed a Regional Airline Association safety official to head a panel beginning work on a proposed rule to put tougher pilot experience standards into effect, based on the law passed this summer, and that panel recommended watering down the requirement that new co-pilots have 1,500 hours of experience.
The Flight 3407 families have fought for that requirement and made another push for it Tuesday. More than 40 members of the families group — the largest to travel to Washington yet — attended the forum.
Leaders of the group said they would continue to press the FAA for the full 1,500-hour standard and might even expand their efforts to push to make the major airlines legally liable for safety problems at their regional partners.
“This is a determined, amazing group of people,” said Kevin Kuwik, who led the families’ lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. “And we’re not going to go away.”
jzremski@buffnews.com
To learn more about our friends and supporters Kevin Mitchell at the Business Travel Coalition and Kate Hanni at FlyersRights.org, please click on each of the logos below:
