Veteran travelers who remember the glory years of airlines noticed a gradual decline in service quality after the Civil Aeronautics Board was abolished and airlines were deregulated. This laissez faire atmosphere encouraged dozens of discount airlines with forgettable names to launch on shoestring investments and just as quickly go bankrupt.
What the flying public didn't realize, however, was just how dramatically their safety was being compromised to cut costs.
Even mainline, gold-standard U.S. airlines that were models of excellence cheapened their own operations—shortcutting maintenance and crew training, and ignoring FAA standards, not to mention eliminating meals.
A compendium of violations of rules and regulations, assembled by USA TODAY newspaper from six years of government files, is chilling.
At least 25 airlines have been fined a total of $28.1 million for infractions—the largest being $7.5 million levied against Southwest Airlines for knowingly operating 46 Boeing 737 jets on 59,791 flights without mandatory fuselage inspections. Six of the planes were found to have cracks. Airlines have flown jets serviced by unapproved mechanics while knowing of mechanical malfunctions. The FAA has been derelict.
USA TODAY and federal investigators found it lax in inspections of maintenance facilities and indifferent about strict enforcement standards. In addition to inexcusable safety laxity, a callous irony emerges. While hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on anti-terrorism aviation security, airlines easily exposed passengers to more horrible fates with poorly maintained aircraft that could fall from the skies for lack of proper care.
