I agree absolutely with Ignition Overrides comment that most customers consider price first and foremost. Safety and security are a given.
I think the problem with the regulation of flying hours is that in the company I work it seems that up to five years ago there was enough staff and enough money to give people an easy life and to require a lot less from each employee. The regulatory authorities seemed to have a set of rules that had never been tested as nobody's roster came close.
In these days of bottom lines, cost cutting and business survival many of these limits are being taken as operational limits and not absolute limits.
I imagine it like a car engine, the red line on the rev counter is a limit. You only run the engine up to that limit very occasionally or it IS going to break.