Passenger concern increases as U.S. aircraft safety is scrutinized

LONDON, England (CNN) -- With thousands of U.S. flights cancelled in recent weeks and criticisms over the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s inspection regime, U.S. passengers are beginning to doubt the safety of the nation's airline industry.

According to a survey conducted by the Business Travel Coalition (BTC), that represents travel departments in large corporates, 94 percent of the 223 travel industry professionals polled were either "very" or "somewhat concerned" about aircraft maintenance.

As a result of fears, 40 percent were less willing to travel, and a quarter said they would skip flights in the future.

But is there a genuine cause for concern? And should the new inspection campaign launched by the FAA help relieve, or increase, passengers' fears?

The FAA instigated the new enforcement in March, after CNN obtained documents given to congressional investigators that showed more than 100 Southwest aircraft had not had mandatory safety inspections.

At a United States Congress hearing last week, the head of the FAA's safety division, Nicholas Sabatini, was told that his agency's performance was woeful.

Lawmakers also accused the agency of becoming too close to the airline industry.

In response to criticisms, the FAA launched the heightened inspection campaign. And now airlines are struggling to keep up.

Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and Midwest Airlines have all had to cancel flights over the last two weeks.

The worst-affected has been American Airlines that grounded almost 3,300 flights over the past week as a result of potential wiring hazards in wheel wells in its MD-80 jets.

But Bill Voss, president and CEO of nonprofit organization, Flight Safety Foundation says recent events should not point to endemic safety troubles across the industry.

"It is hard to ignore that the FAA and the airline industry achieved the highest level of safety in history during a period of expanding demand and widespread bankruptcy," he says. "There is more to a record like that than luck."

As he says, the case involving Southwest Airlines shows what happens when FAA employees and managers get too close to an airline. "This was a serious transgression, but I have not seen any evidence that suggests that this is a systemic problem."

What does worry Voss, however, is that the backlash against the FAA has caused its voluntary reporting systems to come under fire.

"This is a dangerous mistake," he says. "Voluntary reporting systems give airlines an incentive to come forward with safety problems as soon as they are detected. They hold the airlines accountable for fixing the root of the problem."

As he points out, voluntary reporting is not the same thing as letting airlines off the hook. "The FAA didn't invent this idea," he says. "It is considered an essential practice in safety-critical businesses around the world. There are two choices: safety problems can either be identified through reporting systems or at crash sites."

Robert Mann, an independent airline analyst in Port Washington, New York is also concerned that heightened inspection could actually increase safety risks.

As he says, inspection should be "on condition", or when conditions warrant it. Whereas repeated inspection of the same items (which should have been remedied following the initial inspection) could add risk.

"Repeated flexing of 20-year-old attached wire bundles [that were inspected in the grounded American MD-80 aircraft] can result in cracking, chipping or chafing of insulation," he says.

If safety concerns weren't enough, passengers should also expect more cancelled flights and delays as campaigns are "undoubtedly" directed at other aircraft and operators under the new rigorous inspections, says Mann.

And while Voss cannot predict how long the current debate will continue, he is hoping confusions over re-inspections are addressed as soon as possible. "I hope that soon we can start focusing on what might cause the next accident again," he says. E-mail to a friend

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