An unsolicited article that came by web scared the living daylights out of me. My mother did impress on us that one never economizes on (1) doctors, and (2) lawyers. Your life and wellbeing depends on these two professionals.

Now, I add a third: Don’t economize on pilots.

Your life and wellbeing definitely depends on this person when that airplane you’re on is 10,000 meters above ground. Worry about the quality, character, credentials, wisdom of those managing your airplane.

This NY Times article asks: In a developing region witnessing a boom in the number of low-cost airlines, can tourists trust their lives on budget carriers?

Readers are reminded of the near-misses of Adam Air, based in Indonesia, including a flight that disappeared. Was it pilot error when the low-cost One-Two-Go Airline jet skidded beyond the runway and burst into flames killing 89? On a Nok Air flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, what looked like duct tape was holding together seats and parts of the bathroom. Air Asia is selling some round-trip tickets for about $150, compared with $500 or more on Singapore Airlines.

Once dominated by large airlines, there has been seen an explosion of low-cost carriers in the past five years. Governments have been happy to oblige. The number of low-cost flights in the Asia-Pacific region has grown from 3,900 six years ago to over 60,000 today. But can explosive growth also make companies reckless?

Though many budget carriers have young fleets, some Asian carriers buy old planes that had been sitting, unused, in American deserts. Budget carriers have sparked a severe pilot shortage in Asia, which may hurt safety as more inexperienced men and women settle into the cockpit. Meanwhile, some aviation analysts worry that Asian governments, caught in a low-cost frenzy, are allowing businesspeople to start airlines without enough capital on hand. Many Asian nations cannot compare with Western Europe and North
America, where carriers like Ryanair and Southwest emerged in markets that already had strong safety standards.

On a happy note, Philippine Airlines had a banner year in 2007, when it declared its largest-ever profit of $140.3 million; emerged in peak from an eight-year stint in receivership; and garnered awards at industry fora for its performance.

Orient Aviation honored PAL’s president Jaime J Bautista as Person of the Year "for vision and determination in lifting PAL out of receivership and into sustained profitability." Orient Aviation is the respected, Hong Kong-based publication widely acknowledged as the "bible"’ of Asia-Pacific aviation.

"Bautista, more than anyone else, has been central to the cause... has been very much at the heart of PAL’s amazing turnaround."