FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2000
2000 - 0389.PDF
ASIAN foi AEROSPACE 2000 Most Asian carriers are safe, but several major airlines and many regionals are not Bad company Asia's poor safety performers tarnish wr airlines in the area with good records DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON BYTHE END OFTHE1990s, South Asia and-Asia Pacific had earned a poor reputa tion for airline safety, although not all of the region's airlines deserved it, but diey suffer for the sins of others, nevertheless. The accident figures that reflect the region's safety experience for the decade raise the ques tion of whether airlines that clearly have a poor corporate safety culture are independently cul pable, or whedier they merely reflect national attitudes to safety in general. In accident numbers, Indonesia heads Asia Pacific's list of poor performers by a clear mar gin. Airclaims' World Airline Accident Survey records more than 50 accidents involving Indonesia's airlines during the past 10 years. Of diese, 20 were fatal - two involving Indonesia's international flag carrier Garuda. WORST PERFORMER Indonesia's worst performer, which arguably tops the world's charts for die number of acci dents in the 1990s, is domestic carrier Merpati Nusantara, which recorded 24 accidents during die period, 10 of diem fatal. Its only challenger on a worldwide basis is the old, now divided, Soviet Aeroflot empire, a far larger organisation. Operating air links for die extensive Indonesian archipelago may be a formidable task, but an average 2.4 accidents - one of diem fatal - each year is a high price for a single airline to pay. Merpati is not alone as a poor performer among Asian regionals. Burma's Myanma Airlines has had nine accidents, including four fatal crashes, in die past 10 years, and Taiwan's Formosa Airlines also had four fatal accidents. Merpati's size has varied, shrinking rapidly in the early 1990s, so a total number of flights for die decade is difficult to estimate. Projecting die figures reported to the International Civil FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 February 2000 ©
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
