More than 60 per cent of Australians believe the safety standards of Qantas have slipped, according to a poll released on the same day as another incident involving the national carrier.
Thirty-six people were hurt, 20 seriously, when a Singapore to Perth international Qantas flight suddenly lost altitudeover Western Australia today throwing passengers from their seats.
UMR Omnibus, one of Australia's leading research and polling companies, said it surveyed 1,000 people two weeks ago on people's attitudes towards the national carrier.
The results, published on the UMR website, show 63 per cent of Australians believe the airline's safety standards have become worse over the last few years.
This compared with a figure of 52 per cent when a similar poll was conducted in early August.
Women, older Australians, low-income earners and Queenslanders were particularly concerned about Qantas' safety, the study found.
But two in three Australians still believed Qantas was a safe airline to fly with.
The August poll was carried out after two incidents involving Qantas in the previous month.
An exploding oxygen bottle punched a huge hole in the side of a Qantas Boeing 747-400, forcing an emergency landing in the Philippines, while a Qantas Boeing 737-800 returned to Adelaide after a landing gear door failed to retract.
The September poll followed an incident in August involving a Manila-bound Boeing 767, which was turned back to Sydney after developing a hydraulic fluid leak.
UMR managing director John Udding, who was waiting at Perth airport at the time of the incident, had his Qantas flight cancelled because of the Airbus incident.
A UMR spokesman said Mr Udding would have liked to comment but was unavailable as he had been forced to take a late flight to Melbourne rather than his booked Sydney destination.
