FLIGHT SAFETY Foundation (FSF) chairman Stuart Matthews has hit out at the US Regional Airlines Association (RAA) decision to spend $500,000 on a publicity campaign promoting the safety image of the regional, rather than investing in what he describes as more "pro-active" safety measures.
Matthews says that there is very little involvement by the regional-airline industry in the overall aviation-safety effort. The FSF chief says that he warned the RAA earlier this year that it is not enough to invest in public relations, advising that the regional industry "...has to be seen to be doing something".
Matthews says that he first proposed to RAA president Walter Coleman 18 months ago that a regional air-transport advisory committee should be set up, offering the use of the FSF's infrastructure with RAA-chosen leadership as a basis.
Coleman hit back, saying: "We have data that indicates that we have a very safe industry, and Stuart Matthews knows it is a safe industry. What we don't have is a perception by the travelling public as to how safe it is."
Source: Flight International
