The aviation industry chief Tony Tyler said the mystery surrounding the missing Malaysian Airlines plane was unlikely to dissuade people from flying.
A Boeing 777 belonging to Malaysian Airlines went missing on Saturday on its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Media reports said that the plane lost contact with ground controllers when it was between Malaysia and Vietnam. The story has dominated global media throughout the week.
“We don’t forecast any traffic reduction as result of this incidence,” said Mr Tyler, the director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
“Aviation remains a safe industry. It is very safe, but occasionally these events happen. We don’t see any significant reduction as a result of this tragedy,” he added.
Two of the passengers on the vanished aircraft were reported to have stolen passports. Mr Tyler said that checking the identity of passengers falls under the responsibility of governments rather than airlines.
“It’s the role of the governments to make sure that their borders are secure,” he said. “It’s a matter of governments not airlines,” he said.
“I hope that we can quickly move from search to a proper investigation … it is important to evaluate the root causes [of the missing aircraft] and make sure it never happens again.”
According to Iata statistics, the crash rate – or as Iata calls it, the rate of “jet Hull Losses” – stood at 0.20 per million flights in 2012.
The rate was highest in Africa, at 3.71 per million, with Asia-Pacific next at 0.48 per million.
In January, Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said: “Passengers can be assured that flying is safer than ever, thanks to the efforts and commitment of a wide range of aviation industry stakeholders in the sharing of safety data and the development of best safety management practices.”
selgazzar@thenational.ae
