Research: Why Struggling Airlines Spend More on Safety

Every airline worth its salt claims to value passenger safety over and above all else. But, realistically, airlines must balance the often-conflicting imperatives of safety and profitability –  tough, troubling questions that are an inescapable in an industry centered around potentially hazardous technology. In their forthcoming article in Organization Science the authors describe  how financial performance affects an airline’s focus on safety. When they began their research, their assumption was that the most successful airlines (those with secure profitability) would be leading the pack on the safety front. But they specifically examined when airlines decided to replace particular aircraft, and in this context they found instead that airlines with lower profitability were the ones who were more likely to choose to invest in new aircraft after a crash.