Executive Voices: How airlines are making flying safer for the future
In the past 18 months there have been a number of high-profile plane crashes that have contributed to the anxiety of air travelers. But statistically speaking, flying is actually getting safer thanks to airlines and air travel organizations working hard to ensure there are fewer crashes across the world. We asked airline executives to explain how flying has become safer, and here's what they said:
1. Chris Rossi, Senior Vice President, North America, Virgin Atlantic: We’re always monitoring our policies and procedures to make sure they are as thorough as possible, and regularly encourage our employees to feed back about how they think we can improve our safety measures. We also learn from our colleagues in the industry. For example, we participate in a number of industry forums, which allows us to learn from the experiences of other airlines and share best practices. This proactive approach ensures that we’re providing the safest travel possible and giving our customers and crew absolute peace of mind while in the air.
2. Nicholas Panza, Vice President – Americas, Air Tahiti Nui: Everyone who touches our aircrafts — pilots, cabin crew and ground engineers — are undergoing constant refresher training to keep their skills and awareness at the highest level.
3. Doug Caines, Vice President Business Development of British Airways: Our aircraft are well maintained and are checked every flight by pilots and engineers, along with regular maintenance — everything we do is motivated and governed by safety which is always the first consideration. Pilots and cabin crew undergo a thorough selection process and are highly trained. We want all of our customers to enjoy their flight and our in-flight entertainment system offers the “Flying with Confidence” and “Mindfulness for Travel” videos, offering techniques for a relaxed and positive state of mind.
4. Roberto Cuesta, Vice President Sales & Marketing The Americas at airberlin: A high level of safety requires the daily support of every employee in every part of the company, but especially in operational areas, such as technical services, cabin, flight operations and ground operations. The aviation safety measures taken by the airberlin group meet or exceed stringent national and international air carrier requirements and are also checked and confirmed by regular quality audits and IATA Operational Safety Audits (IOSA Audits).
5. Tatsuro Tanaka, Senior Vice President for Corporate Safety for ANA: Our safety principle, "Safety is our promise to the public and is the foundation of our business," informs every decision that we make, and we are working hard to ensure that each individual at ANA makes safety their top priority. We also continue to improve our safety management system with proactive activities to prevent accidents. One of the keys here is to gather and analyze safety information not only from our own operations, but also from an international standpoint. By working with governmental safety regulators and the aircraft manufacturers, we establish a worldwide aviation information exchange and analysis to formulate countermeasures to further improve safety.
6. Marnix Fruitema, Senior Vice President, Air France-KLM North America: To achieve the highest attainable standard of flight safety, both airlines have been in the process of upgrading and updating their respective Safety Management Systems (SMS) which deal specifically with risk management in aviation.
Jessica Festa is the founder on the solo and offbeat travel blog, Jessie on a Journey, and the online responsible tourism and culture magazine, Epicure & Culture. She's constantly searching for local experiences beyond the guidebook. You can follow her travels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.