Airline layoffs and cut backs- is there any relationship to the recent plane crashes?
Attorney
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The economy is in freefall, and once again the airlines are in trouble. Of course, in recent times, with a few exceptions, the airlines and the airline industry are often in trouble. Last year, the industry had problems due to high oil prices. In 2007, the industry feared it was in trouble because of labor relations difficulties. There have been troubles because of short changing long time airline employees and pension holders. None of this has made the airlines more popular among the public.
As with any number of large corporations, labor costs are one of the airline industries biggest expenses and when trouble comes, layoffs are sometimes necessary. With the industry in perpetual crisis, the airlines have indeed laid off many workers.
This process is coming at a time when many airlines are under fire for inadequate maintenance, poor pilot training, and failing to correct the problem of pilot fatigue. It then becomes reasonable to ask what effects these continued layoffs may have on the ability of the airlines to provide safe travel services for their customers.
Layoffs may take any number of forms. Employees may be let go for performance related reasons, they may be encouraged to take early retirement, or the company may simply lop off the least senior employees. Some of this process may be controlled by union contracts, some may not. In any event, at many airlines it appears that employees to be laid-off are selected either on purely fiscal terms, by encouraging those who make the most to take early retirement, or they are selected purely in seniority terms.
The process whereby any company makes hiring and firing decisions is just not very transparent. This makes it difficult to know if some in the industry are sacrificing pilot experience and skill in exchange for lower wage costs. However, if safety is the paramount concern, encouraging long terms pilots to retire and retaining younger pilots solely on the basis of seniority without regard for skill seems a poor method for providing safer skies. Are airlines choosing to retain and reward skilled pilots or to replace them with less skilled pilots who can be paid less? There is not evidence of this that I know of, but it's a question that needs to be examined to ensure this is not happening.
The airlines are common carriers. This means, in legal terms, that they have a duty to provide the highest level of safety possible. In the event of future aviation tragedies, such as the recent commuter flight in Buffalo, we may be sure that regulators and the bereaved families of the victims will be looking very closely at every aspect of an airline’s operation. Training and retention decisions should be no more immune to these examinations than any other aspect of doing business.