Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
By Paul Stone WASHINGTON -- An Aug. 5 agreement signed by DoD and Air
Transportation Association officials is "a huge step forward" in
improving air travel safety for military and civilian personnel.
That's the assessment of Mary Lou McHugh, assistant deputy under
secretary of defense for transportation policy. The agreement
commits six U.S. airlines represented by the ATA to assess the
safety of all current and proposed foreign carriers
participating in what is known as "code-sharing."
Although not well known by the average traveler, code-sharing is
a term that describes partnerships between U.S. and foreign air
carriers. Under such partnerships, carriers exchange seats on
each other’s aircrafts and then sell them to passengers as if
the flights were their own.
For example, let's say you are traveling from Chicago to Germany
with a connection in New York. When you get to New York on the
U.S. carrier, it's possible you'd connect with one of that
airline's code-sharing foreign partners -- even though your
ticket has only the U.S. carrier's name and flight numbers.
The growing number of these code-sharing partnerships -- up from
61 in 1994 to 163 now -- and uncertainty that the safety of the
foreign carrier was comparable to that of the U.S. carrier that
sold the ticket, were just two of the reasons DoD sought the
agreement, McHugh said.
"We were concerned because when you buy a ticket on a U.S.
airline you're pretty confident of safety based on U.S.
standards," she said. "But if you transfer flights and find
yourself on a foreign carrier you know nothing about, you're not
quite sure what the standards are. Our goal is to make sure
agreed-upon standards are being met by all code-sharing
partnerships."
Additionally, she said, DoD has a legal responsibility to
evaluate carriers.
"Whether it's a chartered flight or scheduled, we have an
obligation to do as much as we can to ensure we put our
passengers on safe carriers," McHugh said. "It's one thing when
you have a choice of carriers to take, like the general public,
but in DoD we tell our people when and where to travel and which
carrier they will take."
Approximately 200,000 DoD personnel travel on foreign carriers
each year.
Six major U.S. airlines are participating in the agreement --
American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, TWA and United. Under
the agreement, McHugh said, during the next year the airlines
will certify their foreign partners have sound safety processes
and procedures.
The assessments will be based on standards accepted by DoD and
the International Civil Aviation Organization. DoD will then
review the U.S. carriers' assessments and evaluate the processes
they used. U.S. carriers that find safety problems will be
expected to work with their foreign partners to correct them. If
problems cannot be resolved, DoD will consider barring the code-
sharing carrier from official travel.
"Not only will we be able to look at the results of the
assessments, we'll be able to go out and talk to the people who
actually did the assessments and inspections," McHugh said.
"This increases the communication between DoD and U.S. carriers
in a very positive way. And the more eyes and ears you have on
safety, the better it serves travelers."
The initial assessments are due by Aug. 4, 2000, and follow-up
assessments are to be performed every two years thereafter.
The agreement was sought mainly in the interest of DoD
personnel, but everybody benefits, McHugh said.
"I think this is going to raise the safety bar across the board
because all the airlines have economic interests in making sure
this works," she said. "In the end, all of the traveling public
will benefit by being reassured safety concerns are being
addressed, regardless of whether it's a foreign or domestic
airline."
Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
American Forces Press Service
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