and manufacturers and regulators are equally to blame. All complicit in gouging at the trough, but they are simply eating bigger holes in the swiss cheese.
Well said, but I think the regulators' blame is greater. That is their job, to prevent commercial pressure from making safety take the back seat. You can't rely on the people tasked with making an airline profitable to self police and regulate themselves when it comes to safety. This is a flawed system, yet very much prevalent in SE asia. From Indonesia, to Philippines, to even Hong Kong.
This approach to safety has a hangover, and this is it. Absentee regulatory agencies with profit driven (at all costs) air carriers is a recipe for disaster. Just here in HKG, notice how concerns about safety brought up to the regulator are met with a suggestion to bring it up with the operator. Really? You want the person committing the crime to judge himself? So much for checks and balances.
