Is safety record of world’s most experienced airline about to fall out of the sky?

Qantas has received much publicity over a combination of several incidents and issues during the past 6 months that raise doubts in many peoples’ minds over the safety of the airline. I am one of those people. I am referring to:

• An electrical failure in January on a 747 flight between London & Bangkok
• Reports of hydraulic failure in the nose wheel landing gear on a Dash-8 flying between Gladstone to Rockhampton
• Hydraulic problems (accompanied with smoke) on a flight landing at Brisbane from Townsville
• Reported engine failure between London and Singapore
• Fumes entering cabin during a London to Bangkok flight
• Numerous reports during the latter part of last year with regards to Qantas engineering standards

The airline is marketing itself as the world’s most experienced airline (hover over icon to watch their ad here without leaving page). Qantas does have an enviable track record, with to date no fatalities on its hands. Perhaps that is down to good management, more recently it seems to be more to do with good luck though. If Qantas want to uphold their 100% safety record, it is going to take more than not showing Rain Man (click to see quote) and persevering with whatever other superstitious rituals they have.

During 2007, Qantas was forced to defend its overseas maintenance programme. Some saw it as their way of cutting costs and increasing profits. The quality of the overseas work came in to question, one particular incident that was used against them was that some cabling had been cruedly secured using staples. It could be that this critisism originated from Australian based engineers who felt their jobs were under threat, but on the other hand you do get what you pay for and if you are not paying a fair price, it only encourages some companies to cut corners in an effort to increase their own profits. [ post continues below this parody of another Qantas ad ]

At present Qantas are trying to deal with their Australian based engineers who have rejected a proposed 3% pay rise, requesting 5%. This issue is in addition to worries of how rising fuel prices are going to hit the airline industry in general. Qantas did however report better than projected profits earlier this year and despite financial worries in some parts of the world, I think people are still going to want to travel just as much as they have been during recent years. Flying has become a way of life for many and big companies who fly employees around the globe for business are unlikely to stop with that, even if prices do rise. 10 - 15 years ago airfares were substantially more than what they are now which did nothing to encourage people to fly, but now that most people have had a taste of it and its convenience, it will be hard for them to stop.

Qantas share prices have recently dropped below $3 (AU), that coupled with the bad press, to me points to a company who are experiencing problems (internally and outwardly).

On average I make four long haul flights per year and on top of that I take at least a further 12 short-haul/domestic flights within Australia and also Europe. Once passionate about flying, over the past few years I have started to develop an inexplicable anxiety about taking to the skies. This anxiety will never stop me from flying, I simply put it to the back of my mind, however when making decisions as to whom to fly with, it does somewhat factor into the choice equation.

I believe that there is no doubt there are many more people like myself who have started to question, or perhaps consider in more detail what the future holds for Qantas’s safety record. I appreciate that it has been almost impeccable, but with the recent less than favourable publicity, I am personally starting to feel that it is a case of sooner rather than later that the worst happens for Qantas, even if the average age of their 747 fleet is just under 15 years, which is apparently only around half the lifespan of such an aircraft.

All this said, I am booked on a Qantas flight back to the UK in December, but unless things start to improve with them I am very unlikely to fly with them again, at least for the foreseeable future anyway.

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