The Malay Mail Online
July 18, 2014
SEOUL, July 18 ― The Malaysian airliner apparently shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine was flying over airspace that a number of other Asian carriers abandoned months ago because of security concerns.
South Korea’s two main airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, as well as Australia’s Qantas said they all rerouted flights from as early as the beginning of March when Russian troops moved into Crimea.
“We stopped flying over Ukraine because of safety concerns,” Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Min said.
Korean Air re-routed its flights 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Ukraine “due to the political unrest in the region”, an official for the carrier told AFP.
A Qantas spokeswoman said its London to Dubai service used to fly over Ukraine, but the route was changed “several months ago”.
Quizzed as to why Malaysia Airlines had not taken similar precautions, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said earlier today that international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure.
“The aircraft’s flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. And (the) International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions,” he said.
Other Asian carriers such as Indonesia’s Garuda, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said their routes had never crossed Ukraine. ― AFP
We are all sad for those caught in the situation; nevertheless, the reason given to fly paying passengers based on ICAO is not acceptable by any measures. With the big powers selling arms all over the world plus the fact that Ukraine/Russian rebels being supported by them, with hi-tech weaponry it just makes sense we stay far away! within less than 4 months we have such incidents! Would MAS will ever recover from such impact?; twice is bad enough. Let the power that be think hard. The nation has fallen into some kind of complacency over the past 30 plus years; thinking that doing just enough is good enough to survive the 21st Century! Let this be a wake up call to the nation. Let us have some real brains to think hard on our future!
In other words, Mediocrity..Mahathir’s fault..
More like trying to save fuel costs. Just like many years ago when MAS used to carry the minimum fuel load to save cost and never came to grief when its planes had to circle Heathrow Airport before landing due to congestion.
and nearly came to grief…
so between saving fuel cost and paying for the families now, which is more cost worthy ?
World War 1 – 1914
World War 3 – 2014
Common sense, cow-heads!!!!
When two households shooting each other, you dare to go near and pass-by the shooting zone, cow-heads?????
Absolutely go for alternative paths or routes!!!!!!!!!
Why other airliners are so smart, huh????
MAS may not be able to claim insurance since the shooting down of the MH17 is not an accident.
Do you think people will still travel by MAS when the Airlines put cost-saving above human lives?