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I NOTICED AN AD from a discount airline the other week for a ticket from Cincinnati to Fort Lauderdale for $76 roundtrip. Folks, you can’t drive between those two cities for $76. The same carrier was advertising a bunch of other roundtrip tickets with similar prices.
Crazy cheap.
I get questioned all the time: Are these airlines safe? Do they have good pilots? Are their jets kept in good mechanical condition? Are they as safe to fly as American Airlines—my old employer—or Delta or United?
My answer: Yes. I have no issue flying on these budget airlines.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the airline business. It makes and enforces the regulations, overseeing pilots, mechanics and aircraft. It has the authority to completely shut down any airline, aircraft or individual if it deems that safety is compromised, and it’s done so on numerous occasions.
The FAA is the ultimate authority regarding airline safety. But the companies themselves—at least in the U.S.—are easily as responsible and thorough as the FAA. Safety is first and foremost at each airline. It has to be. Lives depend on it.
Why exactly are these discount airlines equally safe? Let’s start with the pilots.
It isn’t an easy road to the captain’s seat of an airline, regardless of the company. While the time it takes from first learning to fly to gaining that seat varies according to supply and demand, the experience level required is regulated by the FAA. You need an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license, and that requires anywhere from 800 to 1,500 hours of flying time, depending on your educational background.
In addition, you need a specialized “type rating” license for the aircraft you’ll be commanding. That requires at least a month or two of specialized training specific to that aircraft. In all, to be the pilot in command, you’ll need to prove your skills to a number of pilot inspectors over the course of your training.
Different FAA or management pilots will judge you, in a simulator and the aircraft, on your abilities. That’s in addition to your knowledge of the aircraft and its many systems, such as fuel, electrical and hydraulic.
Most important, they will evaluate you on your judgment. Suffice it to say, the pilot who is flying your airplane is extremely competent, or he or she wouldn’t be there. Keep in mind these are just minimum standards.
After these requirements are met, every six to nine months, each pilot must be assessed and tested in the simulator. I assure you that your jet’s captain and first officer have experience far beyond the minimum, regardless of the airline.
Also, all pilots have required medical examinations. To hold an ATP license, you must have a physical exam every six months. If you don’t pass the exam, you’re prohibited from flying until you do. And you can’t fly airliners if you’re too old. FAA mandatory retirement is 65.
One Tuesday, at age 64, I had 300 folks in my A-330 crossing the Atlantic Ocean going from Rome to Charlotte. They were all depending on me to get them there safely using my skill and experience. On Wednesday, I was no longer “safe” to fly because it was my 65th birthday. The FAA decided this was a reasonable medical requirement. It’s an example of the seriousness of the people overseeing the industry.
The same safety culture is required of the aircraft and the mechanics who work on them. Again, the FAA has responsibility for oversight and compliance. The mechanics who are employed by American, United and Delta—or Allegiant or Spirit—must all pass the same stringent FAA testing and licensing requirements. To be a mechanic at any airline requires the same rigorous level of licensing and testing as a pilot.
You must pass many tests and have many hours of experience working on aircraft to attain the licenses, and then compete with many other applicants to get hired by an airline. Once hired, these folks are continuously evaluated and tested, just as the pilots are. In fact, some of the low-fare airlines actually have better working conditions for their maintenance personnel than some of the major carriers. The dedicated people who maintain the mechanical integrity of aircraft—regardless of the carrier—are competent and qualified.
The aircraft in service at these low-fare carriers must pass the same inspections and comply with the same required maintenance schedules as those flown by the major airlines. The Airbus 320 that’s flying in a Spirit Airlines paint job is maintained and inspected to the same standard as one with a United Airlines paint job. While the configurations of the aircraft may differ—seating, lavatories, galleys and so on—the requirements for safety set forth by the FAA are exactly the same.
The discount carriers have a different business model than the majors. They keep their costs down in many ways that differ from larger, established carriers. How they do that is a topic for another article. But the one thing they don’t skimp on is safety.
It’s absolutely essential that safety comes first for every airline company, not because the FAA requires it, but because it’s the very first rule of the business. If you aren’t safe, you aren’t going to be in business. It’s a simple concept, and the airlines in the U.S. are the gold standard for safety.
There’s a bunch of reasons to spend more or less on an airline ticket. Schedule, convenience, legroom, first-class comforts and other factors will help you decide how much you want to spend on your trip.
Safety is not a consideration. All of our airlines are safe. My family will fly on any U.S. airline if it meets our needs, regardless of the name on the side of the aircraft.
Tom Kubik recently retired from American Airlines after 42 years as a pilot. Working on both the management and union side of the business, he saw prosperity, bankruptcy and the disappearance of pension plans. Faced with this upheaval, he also had a side business as a homebuilder. Today, Tom and his wife still travel extensively. Three children and seven grandchildren keep them on the go. Tom’s previous articles were Cutting Their Cut, Why Am I Late and The Unfriendly Skies.
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Tom, please correct me if I am mistaken about this.
As I understood Boeing’s recent safety problems with the 737 MAX (I think it is called), it was reported that the FAA had, in effect, outsourced significant safety inspections of planes to Boeing employees, who of course had incentives beyond safety. This seemed to undermine a lot of what I understood about air safety.
I recognize that this would apply to both legacy and discount airlines, so it doesn’t affect your main point. But doesn’t it call into question the assumptions you make about the FAA seal of approval?
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the airline business. It makes and enforces the regulations, overseeing pilots, mechanics and aircraft. It has the authority to completely shut down any airline, aircraft or individual if it deems that safety is compromised, and it’s done so on numerous occasions.”
This kind of reminded me of the insurance business. It’s also very regulated and can be put in receivership by state insurance departments. States have to approve rates used by insurance companies. Having said that, I just got a 50% rate increase on my long-term care insurance from Genworth. Guess I won’t be flying as much…
My LTC increased 46% last year and 26% this year. They want you to drop coverage.
You made me feel better that I only got a 50% increase… Genworth also guaranteed no rate increases for 5 years. At that point I expect a real doozy. If you hear a very loud scream in 5 years that’s me.
Thanks Tom for an interesting and reassuring article.
I agree with Tom, I used to work with a few ex airline mechanics that had moved to work at public transportation and they all had tremendous attention to the quality of their work. They would perform every job to a written procedure.
Several told me they would wake up and be going through the steps of say a motor replacement in their sleep. They take their jobs seriously.
Lives depend on them.
They told of the FAA being such a threat to their jobs if everything wasn’t done to rigorous specification. The FAA was the ‘big brother’ and even hide in the shadows watching them to make sure they all wore hardhats and other protection or get a memo in their file. Every part on an individual plane was given a lifespan according to the hours in flight and when the limit was up, those parts were replaced as that is FAA tracked. The planes have advanced self diagnostic procedures with sometimes triple redundancy to make the planes as safe as possible.
Several of the guys had transferred to different carriers in their careers and the FAA is . . everywhere!
Appreciate this article. Very informative and comforting.
Thank you for sharing your expertise, Tom! Your perspective is much appreciated!
Great article, it is so nice to have a qualified expert writing about his field of expertise. Funny that I and some many others turn up our “worry quotient” when flying, but we think not at all about jumping into the family car, a taxi, or Uber, all of which are much more dangerous than any airplane. Humans are weird in that our emotions, beliefs and fears overrule logic and rock solid statistics. Think of the effect human quirks have on Investing. Oh my gosh!!!