Crash Renews Focus on Developing World's Air Safety

Yemen crash prompts concerns
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 1, 2009 2:40 PM CDT
Crash Renews Focus on Developing World's Air Safety
Unidentified relatives of passengers react at Marseille airport, France, yesterday after a Yemenia Airbus jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean.   (AP Photo)

After yesterday’s Yemeni Airbus crash, international watchdogs are taking a closer look at airline safety in developing countries, Bloomberg reports. The European Union may add Yemen to a list of more than 90 dangerous airlines from around the globe. Regulators in developing countries “tend to be under- supported by the governments; therefore there’s nobody enforcing the standards,” said a flight-safety advocate.

“Some of these airlines are essentially operating without any type of oversight, and travelers need to be aware,” said a former US transport official. The EU updates its list four times yearly; the US Federal Aviation Administration has a similar compendium. Yemenia Airways met the safety guidelines of Montreal’s International Air Transport Association in 2007 and is due for another audit next year. (More Yemen stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X