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Why, then, did the FAA continue to defend ValuJet well into last week? Perhaps because the agency is conflicted by its dual mandate: to both promote and regulate airlines. After all, ValuJet is one of the airline industry's finest recent success stories--and there haven't been many. In the 18 years since deregulation, 161 airlines have gone out of business, but ValuJet, with its aggressively low fares and limited number of flights, turned a profit last year, earning $67.8 million on sales of $367.8 million--nearly triple its 1994 sales. Until asked by the FAA to slow its growth, the company had been buying about 1.5 planes a month. It now has 51. And with the airline industry in general toting up losses from 1990 to 1994 before finally turning a profit last year, the promotional spirit sometimes seems to have got the better of government officials. At a press conference in April, for instance, Secretary Pena crowed about the "explosive growth" of new airlines, saying that since 1993, 39 carriers have elbowed their way into the competition. "I want to see this continue," he said. "Much of my time in the aviation arena has been devoted to opening skies around the world. The beneficiary has been the flying public, who have more choices and lower prices." What Pena did not mention were those extra risks associated with the new carriers.
As the industry expands, questions have also been raised about FAA's duct-tape oversight procedures. At congressional hearings in April, for instance, an anonymous FAA staff member and a former airline employee testified that air safety is compromised by an inadequate computer system and inspectors who are not always properly trained for their assigned tasks. As a whistle blower said, "If there's not a problem, they don't go looking for it." Airline consultant Michael Boyd of Golden, Colorado, agrees. "The FAA is a safety problem itself," he asserts. "In the lower ranks, they're understaffed and undersupported by the managers above them."
In addition, to keep costs down while boosting margins, budget airlines usually buy older planes that cost less initially but require extra maintenance. They often contract out that repair work--ValuJet has three major maintenance subcontractors--which could compromise safety. "Where subcontracted maintenance is concerned, the question is whether the carrier wants the whole job or just enough to pass FAA inspection," says Charles O. Miller, a consultant who formerly served as chief aviation accident investigator for the NTSB. Miller and analyst Boyd both believe the FAA needs some sort of separate safety-management group. "You need a conscience, an organization within the organization looking at maintenance without pressures," Miller says.
Right now, paradoxically, ValuJet may be the safest way to go. By the end of last week, a second special emphasis review of ValuJet was under way. "Beginning immediately, the maintenance history of every ValuJet plane will be re-examined to ensure that the airline is meeting all of the special FAA requirements for older aircraft," FAA administrator David Hinson announced. For the short term, this has meant delays and canceled flights while the airline copes with the swarm of inspectors buzzing around the company's planes night and day.