Pilots jittery after MH17 crash; longer flights to EU, US

Saturday, July 19, 2014

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KOLKATA - The shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft as it flew over the conflict riddled Ukraine-Russia border has sent pilots squirming in their seats. Not only are they jittery over flying anywhere close to Donetsk, the area under pro-Russian rebels to the east of Ukraine, they are wary of going near any conflict zone, be it the Iraq-Syria border, Gaza, Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Kazakhstan Sudan or Somalia.

Speaking to TOI, veteran Boeing commander Jaideep Banerjee said civilian aircraft should avoid flying over any area that has a strong presence of UN Peace Keeping Force. "We are not dealing with Naxalites here. The rebels and militia in these areas are equivalent to state actors who have brute weaponry. Billions of dollars that Somali pirates get through ransom from hijacking ships is ploughed into the arms industry. What happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is unbelievable but true. We are now vulnerable and need to do everything possible to stay out of harm's way," said Banerjee.

Air India and Jet Airways, two Indian carriers that fly to Europe and America, have already asked pilots to avoid Afghanistan and Ukraine. That means all flights bound for west Europe and the United States from Delhi will have to do a detour. "Flights to Newark, New York, Chicago, Washington, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Frankfurt and several other cities will now take longer. Instead of the usual route, we will now fly southward via Iran," said Sarvesh Gupta, another experienced Boeing commander.

For airlines, that will mean additional costs by way of fuel and other operating costs. Flying to London will take 15-20 minutes more than it did prior to the Malaysia Airlines crash. That means flights will have to carry an additional 3 tonne fuel. The operational cost works to an additional $3,000-4,000 per flight. While carriers will initially absorb this amount, if the situation persists, fares are bound to go up.

For the travel trade industry, the incident has come as a huge setback, coming as it does within months of the MH370 disaster in which another Boeing 777 mysteriously disappeared from the Malaysia-Vietnam border. "The twin incidents have led to a fear psychosis. Travelers were wary about flying Malaysia Airlines and travelling to South-East Asia after the MH370 disappearance. Now, they will be unwilling to fly to East Europe," said Travel Agents' Federation of India chairman (east) Anil Punjabi.

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