Domestic flyers worried about air safety, many avoiding SpiceJet: Survey

Hyderabad: The recent spate of airline mishaps has air travellers worried. According to a study conducted by LocalCircles, many air travelers are no longer keen on flying. The survey found that while the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued notices to airlines following the recent safety incidents, 77% of respondents admitted to being concerned about safety when they or their family were undertaking domestic air travel.

This comes after a spate of mishaps in a span of fewer than 20 days that revealed that airlines may be cutting corners on aircraft maintenance thereby putting passenger safety at risk. This concern cannot be overlooked considering that on 5 July three aircraft belonging to different airlines showed up to be not airworthy.

While IndiGo and Vistara airlines reported smoke and engine shut issues during their flight operations, one SpiceJet freighter plane had a technical malfunction leading to the cancellation of a flight to China. In the case of SpiceJet, there have been eight instances of technical malfunction in recent times.

According to LocalCircles, 44% of respondents traveling on domestic routes said they were avoiding SpiceJet flights over safety concerns while 21% each said they were avoiding travel on Air India and Indigo. Go First is being avoided by 18% of domestic air travelers, 6% said they have been avoiding travel on Vistara due to safety concerns, and 12% said they give Air Asia a pass due to safety issues.

Another question asked flyers was if safety was a concern when they or their family members are traveling by flight. In response, 42% said they were concerned while 35% said they were only concerned if they were undertaking travel via a select few airlines and 16% of respondents said they were not concerned at all. Seven per cent did not have an opinion.

Financial problems and safety issues

The next question in the survey focused on understanding from a flyer's perspective what they thought are the key root causes for so many safety incidents at different airlines. In response, 46% of the respondents attributed the rising airline safety incidents to the financial crunch being faced by some of the airlines leading to inadequate maintenance, while 18% blamed the regulator for "ineffective oversight."

Weak internal and/or external safety audit systems were attributed by 15% of respondents to the rising air safety concerns, 5% of the respondents said it was due to the lack of technical know-how at some airlines, and 10% attributed it to poor management of assets and resources.

On an aggregate basis, 46% felt it was the financial situation at some airlines that was the driver of the safety incidents while 33% attributed it to weak internal and external audit systems and regulatory oversight.

With a large number of posts from citizens expressing concerns about flight safety, LocalCircles conducted a national survey on the subject which was disseminated by the news website Moneycontrol in addition to the LocalCircles platform.

The survey received over 45,000 responses from over 21,000 unique citizens located across 302 districts of India. Of the respondents, 64% were men and 36% were women; 43% of the respondents were from the metro or tier 1 districts, 35% were from tier 2 districts, and 22% of respondents were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.