Air Travelers See Need for Checks, but Want More Advance Notice
By Ja’Rena Lunsford, The Oklahoman
Apr. 3–Helen Crossland knows recent aircraft inspections have caused several airlines to delay and cancel hundreds of flights.
But the Oklahoma City resident said she also knows those inspections are what’s keeping her safe, and she’d rather be safe — and inconvenienced — than sorry.
“I’d rather the airlines pull the planes for inspection than me getting on it and crashing,” said Crossland as she and her husband waited for their flight to Las Vegas earlier this week.
Although inspections have caused numerous delays and inspections since the Federal Aviation Administration began its first round of audits, the airline industry hopes travelers realize the goal is not to inconvenience them, but keep them safe.
“It’s our responsibility to keep you safe,” said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association. “What’s going on right now is designed to make sure we maintain that safety.”
Background to delays Travelers started seeing the impact of aircraft inspections about three weeks ago when Southwest Airlines took 44 of its 520 aircraft out of service after an internal investigation revealed the planes had missed some required inspections for structural cracks. The inspections resulted in the airline canceling 126 flights nationwide.
Two weeks later American Airlines canceled 318 flights and Delta Air Lines canceled 275 flights. Both airlines had to reinspect their MD-80 series aircraft.
“An airline will cancel a flight or delay a flight 100 percent of the time before taking a safety risk,” Castelveter said.
United Airlines canceled 31 flights to make sure the cargo fire suppression system was operating correctly on its Boeing 777s.
Is this system working? Airline consultant Michael Roach said the recent inspections and cancellations are evidence that FAA’s safety system is effective.
“Is the FAA oversight perfect? No. But I think this shows the system is working,” said Roach, a San Francisco-based industry expert with Roach and Sbarra Consulting.
Roach said travelers may think airlines are grounding more aircraft because of inspections, but in reality there is just more focus on the cancellations.
“There are less maintenance delays and cancellations today than there were several years ago, but now when it happens, the media jumps on it.”
Castelveter agreed.
“What’s going on today has gone on for years,” he said.
Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said the airline will make any effort it can to make air travel safer.
“Safety is at the forefront of everything we do and that’s ultimately for our traveling public,” he said.
Displeasing the passengers Although Beth Mann said she appreciates the efforts the airlines are making to ensure aircraft safety, the Indianapolis resident said finding out your flight is canceled at the last minute is still hard.
“Keeping us safe is good, but some forewarning would be nice,” said Mann as she waited for her flight from Oklahoma City to Cincinnati.
Mann was one of the thousands of American Airlines travelers who were affected by cancellations last week. When she saw her flight from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City was canceled, she and her family opted to rent a car and drive to Cincinnati to catch another Oklahoma-bound flight.
“Now we have to drive from Cincinnati back to Indianapolis,” she said.
Cancellations and delays aside, Castelveter said the traveling public has no reason to be concerned with the safety of the airline industry.
“There’s nothing that happened in the last week that says the airline industry is anything but safe,” he said.
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