Clarion Content

US Air where your safety comes first, or at least second, after costs and profit margins; that's how the Clarion reads remarks this week by US Air pilots about the carrier's shocking and potentially unsafe practices.

Eight pilots have filed complaints against the airline for allowing their aircraft to fly dangerous low on fuel in attempt to cut costs. Less fuel when a plane departs is less weight and therefore better fuel mileage. Pilots said in a full page ad in USA Today that US Air was ordering them to depart with less safety margin fuel than they felt necessary. FAA regulations require all domestic flights have at least forty-five extra hour worth of fuel than it would take to get their destination. (In 1990 an Avianca Airlines plane ran out of fuel after a lengthy holding pattern over Kennedy Airport and crashed into Long Island, killing seventy-three.)

Pilots who have been requesting more fuel than the company policy deems necessary have been ordered to attend punitive training sessions to explain why. The carrier denies the pilots claims, and says the extra training sessions are an opportunity for the pilots to explain their requests for additional fuel. The company further says that its policy is for planes to have an extra hour's worth of fuel per flight.

Note that all of this is occurring in the context of a labor dispute between the company and the pilots.

Jet fuel recently surpassed labor as airlines' biggest cost.

Labels: economics, technology