Originally Posted by ventus45
I then said, "with all the safety issues QF has had lately, what do you think is going on behind the sceenes in the low cost airlines ?"
Why should low cost mean low maintenance? The principle that my airline (Ryanair- and thats low
fares, not low cost) uses is that it is cheaper in the long run to keep all the aircraft as close to fully serviceable as possible, rather than allowing them to fly with defects that affect(/effect? can never get that right) the operation of the aircraft in any way.
For example, the aircraft I flew today had a Speed Trim problem yesterday, which limited the aircraft's maximum speed. It also downgraded it to a CAT I only aircraft. This problem was fixed overnight, and we did a practice CAT III landing into STN today at the request of engineering so it would be back to CAT III straight away. This potentially saves Ryanair having to mess round with aircraft rotations if it ended up going somewhere where CAT III was needed.
Personally I think a low
profit airline would be more likely to cut back on maintenance than a high profit low fares/cost airline.