Airline passengers are less willing to fly, have skipped recent flights and plan to avoid air travel in the future, a new survey of travel professionals by the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) reveals.
The BTC survey on aircraft maintenance, outsourcing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight, underlines a deepening concern over the safety of U.S. airlines. The BTC says the survey shows concern regarding passenger safety and homeland security is driving a strong desire for additional maintenance-related consumer information to assist passengers in choosing an airline on which to travel.
BTC said there is also strong support for an independent top-to-bottom review of FAA policy as well as worry that the environment is a victim of certain outsourcing practices.
The BTC survey was conducted online from April 1-3 with 223 completing the survey. Respondents were asked to consider the survey from an individual passenger perspective. Complete survey findings can be found at http://businesstravelcoalition.com/campaigns/outsourcing/maintenance_survey.doc.
Ninety-four (94) percent of participants are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the overall aircraft maintenance and FAA oversight situation. Forty (40) percent are less willing to fly due to current aircraft maintenance issues. Thirteen (13) percent have skipped recent flights due to maintenance concerns. Twenty-five (25) percent indicate they are very likely or fairly likely to skip future flights, according to the BTC survey.
