How is the current recession, or longer-term business challenges, hurting airlines safety investments?
Quinn: Airlines certainly invest in safety, but these amounts vary, in large part because regardless of flight demand and where people want to travel, all carriers are constrained by where they can legally fly. Aviation is a very unique industry in that it’s international in scope, but has to function within restrictive, compartmented legal frameworks in the U.S. and other jurisdictions, which are rooted in political, national security, and sovereignty concerns. The U.S., for example, has laws preventing foreign “control” of domestic airlines and many countries forbid overseas airlines from flying domestic routes within their borders, in an effort to shield their native carriers. One major result of this complex regulatory landscape is that many countries treat airlines as national assets with obligations to provide service to remote areas, and politicize their management – which helps explain why there are more than 160 carriers with varying routes, resources, and safety records. In t
