International civil aviation body is to set up a task force on improving security measures of flights in the wake of Malaysia Airlines MH17 disaster. States are responsible for issuing airspace risk warnings, world’s top aviation officials have reminded.
The UN body governing civil aviation on Tuesday hosted a top-level meeting of international aviation groups amid concerns there is a gap in safety regulations of civil flights. The meeting comes on the heels of the July 17 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 on board.
LIVE UPDATES: Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash in Ukraine
Top officials of the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO), the Directors General of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA), Airports Council International (ACI) and the
Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO) have agreed to
“urgently review” ways of safety threat identification
and prevention as regards to flights passing over conflict zones.
ICAO head, Raymond Benjamin, said at the Tuesday briefing that
the agency will convene a high-level safety meeting with its 191
member states in February 2015. In the meantime, a task force on
the issue is due to be set up by ICAO.
The member states have been formally reminded of their
responsibilities to address any potential risks to civil aviation
in their air space, the official said.
According to Benjamin, the MH17 crash showed there is a pressing
need for information and intelligence sharing on threats that can
potentially affect the safety of passengers and crew members.
However, states are often unwilling to disclose such information,
especially when it comes to sensitive military data.
According to a European-based airline industry source quoted by
Reuters, “some countries will never, ever say there is a
problem with their airspace even if there really is a problem
with their airspace.”
“Airlines do not have CIA operatives working for them. At the
end of the day, airlines have to decide whether to fly or not
based on accurate information,” the source said on condition
of anonymity, adding that the lack of intelligence sharing
“does not make it easy for airlines.”
Following the MH17 disaster, global airlines are going to push
for “neutral information” on whether to use or avoid
airspace over conflict zones, the source said.
The loss of the Boeing 777 on July 17 had “exposed a gap in
the system,” IATA director general, Tony Tyler, said at the
Tuesday briefing. Even the information considered sensitive by
the governments can be “sanitized” in a way which will
make it accessible to airlines and ensure the security of
flights, he said.
Tyler also referred to the issue of states keeping airspace open
to maintain a revenue stream of air navigation fees, saying that
he was sure “no country, no civilized person, would put a few
dollars ahead of the value of human lives.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities are facing many questions in the ongoing international
investigation of the MH17 flight crash. While Kiev and Washington
officials have accused eastern Ukrainian anti-government militia
and even Russia for downing the passenger plane, Moscow has
presented evidence of a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet
approaching the MH17 shortly before the catastrophe, and
published satellite images of Ukrainian BUK missile systems stationed in the area.