Qantas Struggles with Safety Issues

Despite being recognized as one of the top airlines in the world over the past few years, Qantas has been struggling with its reputation recently. Dustin Hoffman famously referred it to in the movie Rainman as the one airline that has never crashed. A host of mid-air incidents have occurred recently that cast Australia's number one carrier in a different light.

The worst incident took place on a flight bound for Perth, Australia from Singapore. The plane dropped nearly 600 feet, causing unrestrained passengers to be thrown around the aircraft. 40 people ended up in the hospital, 14 with serious injuries. Qantas sought to quickly respond by agreeing to pay for all medical expenses. They also offered free flight vouchers to all on board.

Earlier in the year, a plane bound for Hong Kong was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing when a oxygen cylinder exploded and made a hole its side. Two other flights made emergency landings over the summer because of equipment malfunctions. All four incidents received attention from the press.

On top of the bad PR from such in-flight injuries, Qantas has been quarreling with its employees over labor practices. Some union members have complained about plans by the airline to outsource labor to overseas locations, while others have staged a partial strike by refusing to work overtime. The work stoppages led to dozens of cancellations over the summer.

To be fair, it seems that bad luck is at least partially to blame for the recent woes at Qantas. In-flight mishaps are common, as are labor disputes in the airline industry. Qantas is trying to maintain its grip on lucrative routes from Asia and the US to Australia. The recent economic situation has forced many airlines to cut back. However, because of Qantas' previous image of safety and quality, they are held to a higher standard than most airlines. Therefore, the mishaps have hit them particularly hard.

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