Some say safety not exactly a priority with Asian budget airlines

For more on the state of the global airline industry, Kristine Owram spoke with former Air Canada CEO Pierre Jeanniot. Mr. Jeanniot oversaw the privatization of Air Canada during his time at the helm of the company from 1984-1990 and was also CEO of the International Air Transport Association from 1993-2002. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation. 

Q: What’s your view of the Southeast Asian airline industry given the recent crashes there? Do you have any concerns about the safety or the regulatory regime in that part of the world? 

A: Not really, but it is a fact that aviation is growing very rapidly in that part of the world. You always have to be careful about the rate of expansion to ensure that you have pilots who are sufficiently experienced. They are trying to do that and of course it’s up to the government regulatory regime to ensure that sufficient experience exists in the number of hours that are flown by pilots. 

But it’s not just the number of hours, it’s also the kind of experience they’ve been given. As an example, when I was president of Air Canada I used to get the information about every crash that took place around the world and I used to ensure that the conditions were actually programmed into our flight simulators. … I think the actual concerns have to be right there at the top level and I’m not always sure that the people who are running these low-cost airlines have sufficient drive to ensure that safety remains the No. 1 concern for everybody. 

Q: So if you were advising these low-cost carriers in Southeast Asia, what would be your main recommendation in terms of safety? 

A: I think it’s important that in the testing and training, before you become a captain, you are tested in terms of your ability to react in very strange and unknown situations and to be cool in your decision-making. That’s one thing that needs to be stressed with any kind of pilot, but I think in Asia more particularly they may not have addressed these situations well enough. 

Q: Moving on to the Canadian industry, how much of an impact will lower oil prices have on our airlines? 

A: There’s no doubt that the drop in oil prices is very welcome, but when you think of the competitive dimensions of the Canadian airlines vis-à-vis the U.S., for instance, you have to remember that we’re buying a lot of things in U.S. dollars. Because our dollar is something like 15% or more below the U.S. dollar, fuel is that much more That’s a very private question. But let me say this: when I privatized Air Canada in 1984-85 I needed a very good lawyer to help me out and I hired him at the time for about two years to help us renegotiate all our contracts, as we no longer had the government to back us up. We had to rewrite the Air Canada Act and all our loans as well as our contracts with the different unions, and Calin joined us at the time and worked with me, so I know him well and I think a lot of him. I think he’s a very capable guy.

(Vancouver Sun)