So I bought a ticket to Vienna from France on Saturday on the Lufthansa website. The flight was going to be performed by Austrian Airlines as it is a partner and in the end it was operated by Tyrolean Airways. Is this cause for an accident? No, not really.
Manx2 was acting as a ticket seller within their legal limits. They contract an Air Operator Company to supply them aircraft to fly their routes. They give their roster to the Air Operator company and the AOC holder is responsible by law to supply an airworthy aircraft with a trained, certified and current crew who are within their limitations regarding rest and duty times/fatigue and other limitations by law.
The AOC holder did not do this, thats why this outfit was flying around uncontrolled. And thats why the Spanish CAA got a kick for not catching it. The pilots were the last link. Sure, if they had not busted minimums, it would not have happened. But believe me, if people in the management of a company prefer to break limitations for the sake of making a profit and push this on the pilots, your chances that somewhere you will have an accident is many, many times bigger than when that same management kicks your butt if they found out you were breaking a regulation. Wether a pilot can resist those pressures or not is not really the case as it is always in the subconscious somewhere and influences decisions. Thats why I sadly conclude that if this accident had not happened, it would have happened (with this company) somewhere else anyways sooner or later. I'm 100% sure of that.