Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that his government’s focus is accountability and justice for the victims of the Ukrainian airliner that Iran says it shot down accidentally. Will this mean Canada will ban Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian, Qatar, Aeroflot, and Ukraine International Airlines from overflying and landing in Canada?
Should Malaysia Be Allowed To Operate an Airline? This question was asked by Flyers Right in 2014 after Malaysian Airlines knowingly flew over Eastern Ukraine, a war zone. MH 370 was shot down by accident and every passenger on board died. Malaysia Airlines however learned and has been staying clear of Iranian air space.
Now the national airline of Ukraine should have known better. With a no worry attitude, the Ukrainian carrier made a conscious decision to fly over a war zone, name Iran killing 176 passengers and crew.
Four days later there was no apology to the many victims by the management of Ukraine Internati0onal Airlines, but demands for payments from Iran, what of course is a reasonable and logical request. Yesterday eTurboNews suggested Lufthansa Group was also guilty in the killing of 176 passengers and putting hundreds of their own customers in danger.
There was also no apology yet by Turkish Airlines, by Lufthansa, by Austrian Airlines, Aeroflot and Qatar Airways for not leading by example on that awful day. Most likely none of these airlines will ever admit they did anything wrong in continuing flying to Iran during a time the air space was found not to be safe by FAA and hostility was exchanged between Iran and the United States.
At least Iran finally stood up and admitted guilt. This guilty plea now needs to be shared by all parties involved.
Who owes compensation to the families of 176 travelers that didn’t have to die on Wednesday? Of course, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are absolutely correct in demanding justice from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
But shouldn’t Mr. Trudeau also demand compensation from Ukraine International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Aeroflot and Qatar Airways?
Wouldn’t Canada have a good reason to put sanctions on such carriers if they don’t react? Canada may have a good reason to ban such airlines from flying over their country and put their landing rights on hold until compensation was paid and a commitment made, so such an incident can never repeat.
The Canadian PM owes this to his 68 citizens and their families on board the crashed flight. He also has a responsibility to all Canadians, so no one from Canada will ever get harmed in flying such airlines, unless such carriers make a binding commitment to honor FAA and similar warnings.
The fact that commercial airliners fly over conflict zones and that codesharing means passengers may not be aware of the airline they’re flying on when they book a flight opens the aviation industry to a liability that may be hard to understand. Many people are asking: What was an airliner doing flying over a war zone?
Three hundred planes were scheduled to fly over Ukraine on the day MH17 was shot down, despite warnings to airlines about ‘serious risks to safety’.
In Iran, a similar warning was given by the Federal Aviation Authority of the United States and ignored by many aviation companies.
In 2014 KLM said in a statement it “avoids flying over the concerned territory”. FlyersRights asked KLM whether this is an old or new policy. The airline did not return our call for comment.
This story is continuing….
