Originally Posted by
MikeFromTokyo
This is true. But I tend to avoid low cost carriers, and particularly those in countries I deem to be high risk, such as Indonesia. When in doubt, a flag carrier or major airline, and preferably one that is a member of one of the three alliances, is always the safer bet. Alliance membership means the airline meets high safety standards, even if the regulation in the country is otherwise questionable.
Bit of a false sense of security there. I draw your attention to Thailand. It went through its safety crisis not too long ago and TG was implicated. Membership in an alliance means nothing anymore. Look at carriers like Egyptair, Air India and Turkish. All members of *A, but I won't step foot on them now. Thai Smile is the LCC for TG and it is not a member of an alliance, but I pick it over Thai Lion anytime I can, and even over Air Asia which I sometimes use. The problem that arises is that on some routes the only options left are LCCs.
In Thailand, TG stopped flying domestic roots except for a handful to HKT, and CNX. The same is seen in Indonesia where many routes are LCC only.
That's not to say that I don't get your point, I would be a liar too if I said I didn't do similar previously. However, in the past 2 years, I have reduced my domestic flights in Asia significantly as I don't have much confidence in the domestic air safety level of SE Asia.
I expect that there be an impact on Lion Air services elsewhere. I was speaking to my friend yesterday and he's about to book a flight to BKK. He sometimes takes Thai Lion because it's dirt cheap and has a convenient schedule. Not anymore. He's going to pay more and fly Thai Smile
Originally Posted by
TemboOne
Being in Canada and with our national airline in the process of preparing to switch much of it's mainline service to the 737Max8 there is considerable concern and interest in the outcome of the investigation.
AC started taking delivery in 2017 and there are 18 in service now. If there was going to be an issue, it would have been observed by now. What we have with this crash is most likely going to be improper fleet and service management. If there was a significant electrical fault as has been reported, the aircraft should not have been in service. That's not necessarily Boeing's issue.