From my own observations this is increasingly the situation everwhere and is a symptom of the shortage of engineers. IMHO, the wages and conditions are no longer attractive to staff of the quality needed to ensure airworthiness. The result is a decline in quantity as LAEs vote with their feet and potential recruits decline to join us.
The continuing pressure to reduce air fares inevitably leads to cost cutting. Engineering is seen by accountants as a necessary evil, rather than protecting the value of the company's capital assets (the aircraft) In the immediate future many operators will reach the end of the road in cost cutting attempts and go out of business. We must hope that the reduction in competitiion will allow prices to rise enough to rebuild our industry's infrastructure once again.
While competition is accepted as being good for consumers as it leads to lower prices, what about the situation where the customer is unable to determine for himself the quality of the service? In the area of aviation safety, Regulators are supposed to be looking after the public interest by enforcing standards. In UK the CAA have delegated many of their functions away to quality departments in their own search for cost reductions. Then, those quality departments, also trying to cut costs by staff reductions, delegate their responsiblity down to the supervisors. Everyone passes the buck and standards fall.
When will the public pay for their cheap flights through increased casualty rates? I don't know, but I sure want to be out of the business before the planes start falling out of the sky. The world thinks that terrorism is the greatest single threat to public safety in the air, but I'm very much afraid they are in for rude awakening!
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Through difficulties to the cinema