Will The MH17 Incident Change The Future Of Air Travel?

24th Jul 2014

​The tragic event that shocked the world last July 17 involving yet another flight from Malaysia Airlines certainly changed the way travelers look at the safety in air travel.

The ill-fated MH17 was flying over Ukrainian air space on a return flight to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it was shot down by a missile. No one claimed responsible for the attack immediately after, but the pro-Russian rebels and Ukraine military were pointing fingers at each other.

Five days later, there emerged more stories.

There was a story alleging that Malaysia Airlinesdidn't heed earlier warning against flying the path declared as unsafe. The airline, however, denied such warning on the imminent danger and the plane didn't breach the Eurocontrol's recommendations. It argued that the flight path was commonly used by many airlines flying between Asia and Europe. In fact, two other airlines were later known to have traversed the same path, just a few seconds away when MH17 was hit.

There was also an instruction on pilots to fly above 32,000 feet when flying over Ukraine's troubled region. Yet flight MH17 was hit by a missile even if it was cruising at 33,000 feet above the said war zone.

Emirates top official, Tim Clark, has proposed a meeting to the board to talk about new protocols for flying over troubled regions. The official wants the board to make a unanimous decision in response to the deadly incident involving MH17. He further said that the country's aviation regulators should set guidelines for travel in dangerous air space.

Eurocontrol has strongly warned its members against flying over the eastern region of Ukraine, as well as Crimean air space, after the deadly crash.

Ukraine has long declared its eastern region a no-fly zone. CASA has already advised Australian carriers to heed safety notices for flights over Ukraine air space.

Despite the fatal incident, International Air Transport Association (IATA) maintains that it is still safe to travel by air. It even assured the public that the global air transport has been more strict in adherence to safety standards in air travel.

A total of 298 people on-board perished in one of history’s deadliest air incident.