Sunday, March 22, 2015

Why are Asia's planes crashing all over the place?

Everyone who has died flying commercial in the past year was flying aboard airlines from the East. Safety may not be able to keep up with demand.

The last place in the world where you would expect the government to announce the creation of a new airline would be Malaysia. After all, the state bankrolls Malaysia Airlines, stricken financially by the loss of Flight 370 and the destruction of Flight 17 over Ukraine.

But this week they unveiled a new carrier called flymojo—a name reflecting the informality of budget airlines rather than the pomp of a state flag carrier.

The reality is that they had little choice. Everybody in Asia wants to fly, and fly cheaply and frequently. The Malaysians’ only way to protect their domestic market was to copy the competition.

But across Asia this race to meet an unprecedented demand for air travel is seriously straining the oversight of airlines and the systems needed to ensure world-class safety. The numbers are worrying. In the last 12 months 492 people have died or gone missing, presumed dead, flying in Asia on Asian airlines. That’s significantly more fatalities than the world totals for 2011 (372), 2012 (388), and 2013 (173). Full story...

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  3. Pilots were sleeping when Air France flight crashed...
  4. Malaysia Airlines MH370: The persistence of conspiracy theories...
  5. Jet Airways pilot was asleep, co-pilot was on iPad, both suspended...
  6. New information provides new questions about Malaysian flight MH17

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