IATA urges gov't not to punish Asiana
By Kim Rahn
Antony Tyler
The chief of an international association of airlines has expressed concerns over the Korean government’s move to impose sanctions on Asiana Airlines over the crash of the carrier’s plane in San Francisco last year.
Antony Tyler, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that represents 240 airlines, sent a letter to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on Oct. 23 to show the group’s support for the Korean carrier.
It is very rare for IATA to send such an appeal to a government regarding an accident.
The letter comes as the ministry is about to decide the penalty for the airline for the last year’s July 7 accident when Asiana’s Boeing 777 flight struck a seawall at the end of the runway while on approach, killing three and injuring 180 onboard. Market sources expect a limited period of suspended operations to be the penalty.
“Absent deliberate, flagrant violation or sabotage, an aircraft accident should not be criminalized because criminalization of aviation accident investigations serves no useful purpose,” Tyler said in the letter.
He said an airline that has an accident suffers from losses anyway due to damages to passengers and aircraft, compensation to victims, tarnished brand image and declining demand.
“The imposition of further penalties by the state as an attempt to demonstrate oversight is disproportionate and unreasonable,” he said.
Tyler also said that such a sanction can undermine aviation safety, as it may prevent airlines from sharing their safety information and regulators from learning about safety problems.
He added that the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report states the probable cause of the accident was a series of unintended errors, the over-complexity of systems and training gaps.
“We would sincerely suggest that MOLIT reconsider the pending sanctions against Asiana and to ensure your state safety program enables a clear and reasonable enforcement policy for your domestic airlines moving forward.”