Asiana - Også et Østens selskap med sikkerhetsproblemer

Is Asiana Undermining Its Own Safety Chief?

String of incidents at South Korean airline prompts worries safety czar doesn't have enough power

The damaged wheel of Asiana's Airbus A320 after the plane skidded off the runway while landing in Hiroshima, Japan, on April 14.

SEOUL-Two years ago, in the wake of a fatal accident in San Francisco, Asiana Airlines Inc. brought in a high-profile expert to revamp safety procedures at the South Korean carrier.

But after a number of new safety concerns where a jet skidded off a runway in Japan, some Asiana pilots and independent experts are questioning whether the company could be inadvertently undermining its safety czar's effectiveness.

Asiana's safety chief, Akiyoshi Yamamura, doesn't have power over hiring and firing pilots, and can only propose measures that must be approved by a safety panel he doesn't lead. That challenges his ability to effect meaningful change in safety policy, experts say.

For example, an Asiana pilots union leader said members aren't using a hotline Mr. Yamamura established to anonymously propose safety improvements because they don't think he has the authority to make changes.

The union, which counts more than 900 pilots, prefers to raise such matters through management-labor meetings, the leader said.

"There's not much [Mr. Yamamura] can do alone in his capacity as chief safety officer. Although he is an executive, his reach is quite limited. He's an outsider," said Kim Byung-soo, an Asiana pilot.

Mr. Yamamura declined to comment. Asiana declined to comment on whether his effectiveness is undermined by the company's corporate structure.

July 26, 1993 Asiana Boeing 737 crashes into a ridge in Mokpo, South Korea, in bad weather, killing 66 passengers and two crew members.

Aviation safety and pilot training have come under scrutiny in Asia as traffic rises in the region and investigations continue following a series of tragedies over the past year, including the Dec. 28 crash of AirAsia Bhd. Flight 8501 in the Java Sea and the disappearance in March 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which still hasn't been found.