Barring a miracle, MAS is set to be listed as the airline with the highest number of fatalities in a single crash in the last decade.
Air France’s 2009 air crash claimed 228 lives and has topped the list the past 10 years, followed by Brazil’s TAM Airlines (199 deaths) in 2007 and Russia’s Pulkovo Airlines (170 passengers) in 2006.
Perhaps it is time for aircraft manufacturers to consider building safer jets instead of bigger ones. It is just common sense that if the passenger jets are smaller, the casualties would be lower in the event of a crash.
Air disasters can never be avoided or eradicated because engine or mechanical failures are just impossible to detect when these “giant steel birds” are up in the air.
Perhaps this quote from the James Bond movie titled “Diamonds Are Forever” makes much sense: “If God wanted men to fly, He would have given them wings.”
What is possible is to reduce tragic losses by capping the size of passenger jets and enhancing aviation safety technology.
So, MAS making it to the No 1 spot in fatalities in a single air crash is no indication of its safety management record compared with other airlines.
It was just that the ill-fated MAS Boeing 777-200ER wide-body passenger airliner load was bigger than that of other jets that crashed. To be sure, even the cause of the tragedy has yet to be determined.
Again, perhaps it is for the aviation engineers and experts to debate and tell the man in the street whether size does matter in terms of design and air safety.
It is not without basis that MH370’s mysterious disappearance at 1.07am on March 8 has been described by many aviators as “unprecedented in air industry history”.
Let’s fathom this:
Ø MH370 just vanished from commercial aviation radar screens and continued flying for at least five hours without a sign of distress; and
Ø MH370 managed to breach multi-national air space for at least five hours without an iota of suspicion from commercial or military radar stations.
Unprecedented, no doubt, but it is in the global interest of the aviation industry and militaries to find out what happened to MH370 and fix the problems and weaknesses that led to this tragedy.
And the answers to all these may just be in MH370’s flight recorder or Black Box that investigators and all are frantically searching for.
The MH370 tragedy has raised two dire issues:
Ø MAS’ financial health and management competency that reflect the Malaysian government’s administration performance; and
Ø The state of Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) air traffic control and security.
According to Reuters, even before the loss of flight MH370, MAS was bleeding cash, prompting talk that it may need another financial rescue from state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd, its majority shareholder.
The flag carrier’s cash and short-term investments at end-December were close to US$1.2 billion (RM4 billion) – less than its average operating costs of the two previous quarters, and a signal that it may soon need fresh funding or bank loans.
MAS, Southeast Asia’s fourth-largest airline by market value, has had negative operating cash flow for three years – which means it is not generating enough cash to meet its day-to-day operating costs – and has had negative free cash flow, operating cash flow minus capital expenditure, for six years.
No one has yet calculated the cost to the airline of the lost plane, which is now assumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean with 239 passengers and crew on board. While the plane was insured, there will likely be compensation payouts to the relatives of those who died.
“What this accident is going to create is an acceleration of the downward trend that we’ve seen at MAS for years, and the need to restructure," Bertrand Grabowski, who heads German bank DVB's aviation and land transport finance divisions, said.
“The only way out is shrinking, in terms of capacity and route network.”
MAS declined to comment on its financial situation. CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a briefing that it was “a very painful period for the airline”.
Until flight MH370 vanished, MAS had been looking to break even this year. In February, Ahmad Jauhari, a triathlete and long-distance runner, said the airline expected further pressure on its yields – passenger revenue per seat – and would try harder to cut its structural costs and improve productivity.
Khazanah, which owns 69 per cent of MAS, backed the recent rights issue. In 2012, Khazanah had tried to cut its stake in the airline, but the powerful Malaysian Airline System Employee Union (Maseu), which represents the airline’s 20,000-strong workforce, rejected a share swap deal with AirAsia.
“Khazanah will have to support MAS (just) as Temasek backed Neptune Orient during the financial crisis,” said an investment banker, referring to the Singapore state investor’s support for the local shipping firm’s 2009 rights issue.
The real question to MAS’ ill-health is whether the Malaysian government has the political will to come to terms with the real problems afflicting MAS – plugging financial leakages and largesse.
The MH370 tragedy is still a mystery and answers may be found over time. However, KLIA’s security is being questioned.
How did two Iranians, using stolen passports, get boarded on MH370? Were there others who boarded undetected? No answers thus far, only excuses and passing-the-buck by the police and the immigration department.
Police and investigators have yet to rule out hijacking as a possible cause of the MH370 tragedy. The fact is, if it was hijacking, can just one man seize full control of a jet for more than five hours?
This is one tragedy that the Malaysian authorities will not be able to sweep under the carpet, unlike its infamous habit of doing so for domestic tragedies and scandals.
Who killed Altantuya? Who killed Teoh Beng Hock? Just to cite two cases that need no further explanation for understanding Bolehland.
MAS was founded on Oct 12, 1937 as Malayan Airways Limited and took to the skies on April 2, 1947 as the national airline.
MAL assumed MAS (Malaysian Airlines) as its new corporate brand in 1963 following the formation of Malaysia.
MH370 is MAS’ second crash in its service history, the first being MH653 which was hijacked on Dec 4, 1977.
The Boeing 737-200 aircraft crashed in Johor’s Tanjung Kupang, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew members.
The findings of the tragedy were never made public though the flight was reportedly hijacked as soon as it reached cruise altitude. The circumstances in which the hijacking and subsequent crash occurred remain a mystery.
MH653 departed Penang's Runway 22 at exactly 19:21 hours for Kuala Lumpur’s Subang Airport (now known as Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport).
At 19:54 hours, at an altitude of 4,000 feet over Batu Arang and descending towards Subang’s Runway 33, the crew reported to Subang Tower that an “unidentified hijacker” was on board.
A few minutes later, the crew radioed: “We're now proceeding to Singapore” but MH653 never arrived. At 20:15 hours, all communication with the aircraft was lost.
The death toll: Malaysia (73), the United Kingdom (5), West Germany (4), Australia, India and Indonesia three victims each, Cuba (2), Afghanistan, Canada, Japan, Greece, Singapore, Thailand and the United States, all one each.
The Beijing-bound MH370 took off from KLIA’s runway and vanished from commercial aviation radar screens at 1.07am, barely after an hour in the sky.
Onboard were 239 people: China (152 + 1 infant), Malaysia (50), Indonesia (12), Australia (7), France (3), the United States (3 + 1 infant), New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada (all two each) and one each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Austria.
MH370 has left investigators with many more questions than MH653. And if MH370’s disaster was caused by hijackers, at least it shows MAS’ maintenance and service of aircraft is a non-issue.
However, will the Malaysian government be able or allowed to, again like MH653, lock up its findings from the public and the world?
As far as any probe panel that is to be set up by the Malaysian government is concerned, one of theantdaily’s loyal readers Richard H Fleming’s post best sums up MH370’s follow-up:
“The PSC (Parliamentary Select Committee) better have some aviation experts and air accident investigators in its Team. Politicians getting involved in an investigation is like asking the foxes to decide what's good for dinner while guarding the chicken coop. Hishamuddin's ‘above partisan politics’ is not the issue here. Transparency, honesty, and integrity in arriving at the painful truth is the one and only issue that is owed to the families of the 239 souls onboard. But, there is still NO concrete evidence or hard proof as to the debris sightings to establish if indeed it is the missing Malaysian jetliner. I am not convinced. Satellite imagery is not the same as photographs. The jury is still out as to what REALLY happened.”
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