That exemption was renewed in June this year and has been around for a while now. There are some rules around the exemption which VBA must meet. Jetstar also have the exemption as well I believe.
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I think the only time an evacuation is called for is when applying for an AOC. Once you done it you have proven to the regulator that you can do it. There's a great youtube video of an A380 evac that was done for the planning of it all.
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At the end of the day if Mr and Mrs Blogs get a $30 seat they are happy. If they knew that slowly but surely Australian Aviation was moving away from safe to affordable safety they might be concerned but I doubt it. The problem is that only those in the business care the rest are only concerned with price. Just look at Tiger down in Tas. The consumer doesn't ask why the crew went sick they only want to complain about how their weekend was ruined because $30 didn't get them a spare CC member. If you had of asked them they would have flown back without that crew member and taken their chances.
