The deregulation of the commercial airline industry in 1978 has stimulated the formation of a significant number of new airlines. For example, a total of 79 airlines with fewer than 5 years of operating experience provided scheduled service to the public from January 1990 through December 1994. In his former capacity as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the current Ranking Democratic Member of the Committee asked us to review the process of certifying new airlines and the safety performance of new airlines. As agreed with the Subcommittee, this report is also addressed to the current Chairman and Ranking Democratic Member of the House Subcommittee on Aviation. We conducted our work in two segments to address these issues. In January 1996, we reported on the certification process, through which the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorize airlines to begin operations. This report addresses (1) the safety performance of new airlines (airlines having 5 or fewer years of operating experience)2 compared with that of established airlines (airlines with more than 5 years of experience) in terms of accidents, incidents, and FAA-initiated enforcement actions and (2) the frequency with which FAA inspects new airlines compared with its inspections of established airlines. In addition to our analysis of new airlines, we also assessed the status of FAA's efforts to correct long-standing problems that limit the effectiveness of its overall safety inspection program. Finally, this report discusses publishing airline-specific safety data for use by the traveling public.


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    Title :

    Aviation Safety: New Airlines Illustrate Long-Standing Problems in FAA's Inspection Program


    Publication date :

    1996


    Size :

    56 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English