WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – A new poll shows travelers looking to fly this year aren’t too worried about recent issues impacting the airline industry.
According to the new Associated Press poll, a sizable portion of American travelers are unaffected by a visible wave of recent high-profile airline drama, most notably a door plug blowing off an Air Alaska flight in January and two JetBlue planes colliding on the runway at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
Despite these and other concerning events, 71% of respondents stated at the end of January that they believe flying is either very or moderately safe, compared to only 60% who felt the same way about using the bus. Merely 12% thought flying was risky, according to the poll.
Regarding pilots, the poll noted that 84% of respondents said they were confident that the captains of the sky would land safely, and 81% said air traffic controllers would safely navigate them. Consumer confidence in plane makers was 71%, with a similar percentage of 67% believing that planes “are safe from structural faults.”
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy recently stated in an interview with CNN that Boeing does currently have a “quality control problem” but signaled confidence in the company, saying she would “have no problem” taking a flight on a Boeing 737 Max 9.
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