Boeing 737 Max 9s grounded after panel break
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13 hour drive from Manila or 1 hour "hold your breath" flight to Bicol-Legazpi?
I lean towards the drive, but that's enough of a time save to make the flight unavoidable. And the Philippines might be a small step above your Sub-Saharan Africa/Rural India or Indonesia where these crashes happen regularly, too.
As a rule of thumb, I tend to trust any airline that can fly to either EU or USA -- it means they have to maintain the standards and practices of the FAA/Equiv. EU Body. Even in third world countries, you should be alright.
It's when you fly on your Spice Air, or your Lion Air (or any of a myriad of small airlines in Africa) where you shit your pants.
That has been mine, though I have become very skeptical after the EU banned Russian airlines on 'safety grounds' right after a certain incident in February 2022.
Either they were really unsafe, and the EU was tolerating them for political reasons before, or they were really safe, and the EU banned them for political reasons. Both do not speak very well of their safety regime.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-adds-21-russian-airlines-those-banned-eu-2022-04-11/
Now, in all likelihood they were completely safe and the EU just banned them for political reasons (which is less bad than the alternative), but the fact that such decisions are made on political grounds is reason enough not to trust the system. That said, I don't worry even with low cost carriers like Easyjet, Vueling and Pegasus. Ryanair I avoid because they use the 737 Max and because they do not employ their pilots.
If the airline isn't based in a western European country or does its maintenance somewhere else I am simply not fucking flying. The horror stories from my father flying in Asia confirms this.
This comports with my experience. Asian (other than maybe Japan) and African airlines are dangerous. One issue that killed a bunch of people started due to retardation on the ground in Indonesia.