Are our airlines safe?

There was a time when Philippine air travel had a very high reputation for both safety and service. That was when Philippine Airlines started operations shortly after liberation. Now, going by the plane that crashed in Manila Bay last Monday, air travel in the Philippines depends entirely on which airline you take.

The first question we raise is: Why the Laoag Airlines is called the Laoag International Airline? From everything that we have read, all its flights were limited to the country and it had no less than three air crashes during its short period of operation. One claimed the life of a Batanes town mayor. Another took place in Mactan International Airport. Going by published reports, the LIA is operating with only three 40 year-old F-27 Fokker planes. Again going by reports, the LIA initially bought four planes, but one had to be cannibalized to furnish the spare parts vitally needed by the other three. With the loss of the plane that crashed in Manila Bay, it leaves them with just two planes. You can’t have an efficient maintenance crew to service just two planes.

If the United States and United European countries issue a warning to their tourists to avoid air travel in the Philippines, it would be disastrous to our tourism industry. But air crashes like the one that happened last Monday makes one wonder just how safe air travel is in our islands. We can’t afford to grant licenses to fly-by-night airline operators.

According to Ilocos Rep. Imee Marcos, she had been complaining to the Air Transportation Office on the airworthiness of the three F-27 Fokker planes of the Laoag International Airlines. Not only were her complaints ignored, the Air Transportation Office even allowed the LIA to expand its operations to Batanes, Tuguegarao and Leyte. Residents of Laoag were the very first to avoid taking LIA flights. This partly explains why there were no casualties from Ilocos Norte in last Monday’s tragedy.

An investigation into the cause of the LIA plane crash is definitely in order. What the investigation should establish in whether substandard airlines are allowed to operate in the country. There should be no compromise when public safety is involved. To begin with, we don’t lack good airlines in the country. And even no air service is better than unsafe air travel. If anything, we hope that last Monday’s tragedy results in the stricter supervision of airlines.