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SOUTH EDITION
roundtownnews.com
04 -10 may 2012
Safety fears on Iberia flight
IBERIA EXPRESS, Spain’s newest airline, was this week accused of allowing strict safety rules to slip during a flight from Madrid to Alicante’s El Altet Airport. by jack troughton
Rojales show Madrid their heels THE ROJALES Netball Club took on Madrid in the annual International netball tournament which was held at the La Manga Club Sports complex. Teams from the United Kingdom, Marbella and Madrid all took part in the event which was full of great netball despite the heat of the day. In what was a great end to the tournament Rojales took on the mighty Madrid and were determined to beat the team from the capital city. Read the full story on page 56.
Frequent flyer John Pickford was “appalled” at standards on flight IB2424 on 25th April and has fired off a letter of complaint calling for urgent action. John had taken a party of 20 from Calpe U3A on a “Tigers and Dragons Cruise” around the Far East with flights booked through British Airways and was returning with some members of the party, others choosing to stay in the UK. “I have written to BA,” he said. “I have said that as a member of the enlarged group, it should be aware one of its new divisions, Iberia Express, is lacking in certain safety procedures.” Spanish airline Iberia – which merged with BA to form the International Airlines Group – launched low-cost carrier Iberia Express earlier this year aiming to turn around its loss making domestic division. The new airline promises cheaper prices would not compromise the quality of its service and, importantly, safety. However, John accused the cabin crew of not insisting international safety standards were followed and blamed a lack of training. ENFORCE “It is not a case of complaining but to bring to the airline’s attention they should do
something about the way safety is presented and enforced.” He said passengers had been allowed to board with overweight and over-sized luggage and “stuffed them into overhead lockers”, people had kept handbags and briefcases on their laps during take-off and landing, while mobile ‘phones and electronic games were used throughout the journey on the Airbus A320 200 series aircraft. “Having flown many years in business and many thousands of miles on different airlines, I was concerned about the lack of safety – concerned for the safety of the passengers and the crew,” said John. “My concern is if it does not improve and God forbid there is an accident and people have to get off the aircraft quickly, it could contribute to making a simple accident into something far worse.” He said in the Manchester Air Disaster of 1985, when a British Airtours Boeing burst into flames on the runway after an engine failed, 55 people had died – some unable to reach emergency exits because of panic and being impeded by baggage. “This is a new airline but they are not setting a very good example – and thought maybe a newspaper article will help highlight this and get something done about it.” Continued on page 4