Should I be worried about airline safety
I'm making a trip to Thailand at the beginning of March. I've booked tickets from Bangkok to Phuket on AirAsia. However, after reading recent articles around AirAsia recent airline crash, I was sceptical of the airline choice.
Should I arrange for a different airline? Is airline safety something I should be worried about? I've never flown in an Asian airline before so I don't have much confidence in non EU airlines.
Best Answer
The Daily Mail is a rag, I wouldn't put a lot of weight on it. Air Asia X have (relatively) recently completed the IATA Operational Safety Audit which proves it is as safe as any other airline. As mentioned here, AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia India, AirAsia X Thailand and AirAsia X Indonesia are about to complete the same audit. Until they are in the registry, however, I would not fly them. I would most especially avoid AirAsia Indonesia (AWQ) which until 2010 was EU banned and they crashed a plane into the sea in 2014.
Note the IATA OSA is just one indicator, it's expensive so many airlines don't have them. The respective authorities of Australia (CASA), USA (FAA), EU (EASA) do not allow unsafe airlines landing in their airports so if an airline goes to either of those, that's also fine.
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What are the chances of a plane crashing 2020?
The odds of dying in a plane crash are 1 in 9,821, though this accounts for both general aviation, that includes small planes, and commercial aviation. If you are reading this article, you are probably more interested in the chances of a plane crashing on your next commercial flight, though.How safe is flying on a plane?
Flying is the safest form of long-distance transport the world has ever known. In 2018, some 4.3 billion passengers flew safely on over 46 million flights. The fatal accident rate was 0.28 per million flights, the equivalent of one fatal accident for every 4.2 million flights.What are the chances of dying in a plane crash?
The annual risk of being killed in a plane crash for the average American is about 1 in 11 million. On that basis, the risk looks pretty small. Compare that, for example, to the annual risk of being killed in a motor vehicle crash for the average American, which is about 1 in 5,000.How do I know if my flight is safe?
Of course, what passengers really want to know at the end of the day is whether the airline they're flying is safe, period. It's possible to look up accident reports through the Aviation Safety Network's database, and scan the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) website for U.S. incidents.The Honest Pre-flight Safety Demonstration Video That Airlines Are Afraid to Show You
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Answer 2
There are other things to worry about e.g. road safety. It's often said that the trip to or from the airport is more likely to kill you than the flight, last year John Nash and his wife died this way. You should also focus on potential health problems; make sure you get the recommended vaccinations and stick to food safety guidelines.
Answer 3
Most airline safety rating reports that have come out from outside ranking services use concepts that do not fairly compare airlines. A couple of primary safety ranking items are approval by the FAA and EU for landing in the USA or Europe. For regional Asian airlines who have no plans to ever fly long hauls there is zero reason for the expense and work involved. This lack of FAA or EU paperwork does not make them any more or any less dangerous.
Likewise for AirAsia Indonesia's "ban from flying to the EU", they don't fly there anyway and were caught in a blanket ban of Indonesian airlines due to the EU's perceived shortcomings in maintenance and training in the country as a whole.
Same applies to the recent "yellow cards" issued against Thailand over air safety. They were not issued to the airlines, rather they are warnings to the government, as they feel the government doesn't have enough staff and checks in place. But the major airlines like Thai Airways and AirAsia X all meet the EU rules and have their landing rights (Thai also has FAA clearance, I believe AirAsia X may as well but not sure).
In the long run Asian based airlines are just as safe as European based airlines. AirAsia lost the plane in Indonesia due to pilot error, German Wings lost one recently due to pilot mental issues.
I have flown Air Asia quite a bit within Thailand, as well as Bangkok Air and Thai Airways. I feel just as safe sitting on their aircraft as I do flying with KLM or Delta.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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