Are Asian low cost airlines safe?

A comment in The Times on line in the UK says that news of the fatal aircraft accident involving One-Two-Go in Thailand shouldn’t make travellers unduly wary of using low cost airlines in Asia.

Just as in Europe, low cost airlines are booming in Asia, with four operating in Thailand alone, namely Nok Air, One-Two-Go, Thai Air Asia and Bangkok Airways, and flights within south-east Asia now numbering 17,836 flights per month, up 21 per cent from last year.

Low cost airlines in south-east Asia meet the same safety standards as carriers operating internationally from the region, and while these are not the same as western safety standards, the European Commission has produced its own black list of airlines it considers unsafe.

Until March of this year, one Thai airline was on this list, Phuket Airlines, but it was removed following a safety overhaul.

The only other south-east Asian airlines that are on the list are the 51 carriers that operate out of Indonesia, with two involved in recent air accidents – Garuda in March when one of its aircraft overshot a runway in Yogyakarta, killing at 21 people, and Adam Airlines, which crashed mysteriously off the island of Sulawesi on January 1 2007, with all 102 passengers missing, presumed dead.

The One-Two-Go crash over the weekend is Thailand’s deadliest aviation accident since December 1998, when a Thai Airways aircraft crashed at Surat Thani airport in southern Thailand killing 101 passengers.

There have been other incidents in south-east Asia involving low cost airlines, but the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which monitors the aviation sector in the region, says passengers should not be concerned. “The south-east Asia region is no less safe than anywhere else,” spokesman David Bentley told Times Online. “And globally low cost airlines don’t have a bad safety record.”

He did add though that it is increasingly unusual for airlines to operate aircraft that are more than 20 years old, as the One-Two-Go aircraft is reported to be. “Old aircraft are not unsafe per se but they can make a bit of a racket on landing,” he said.

“Most low cost airline operate newer planes now anyway because they save they money on fuel efficiency and maintenance costs in the long run.”

Speaking for IATA, the international body that represents 240 airlines around the world (but not One-Two-Go), a spokesman Albert Tjoeng told Times Online that the age of aircraft is not relevant, adding “The important factor is how well maintained an aircraft is – a new aircraft that is poorly maintained is more dangerous than an old one that is properly maintained.”

He added that One-Two-Go’s aircraft would have to meet the safety requirements laid out by the Thailand Aviation Authority in order to continue operating in the region.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association, which promotes international tourism to the region says it doesn’t believe travellers will be put off, with a spokesman telling Times Online, “We expect the impact [on tourism to Thailand] will be minor and brief.” “While this accident resulted in a tragic loss of life and injury, most travellers today understand that air travel generally is a very safe form of transport.”

Report by The Mole from The Times On Line