Flying Still Safe Despite Tragedies, Says IATA Chief

KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 (Bernama) -- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has maintained that flying is safe and that safety is its number one priority despite three tragedies in quick succession and events in the past seven days. In a statement Friday, its director/chief executive officer, Tony Tyler, said every day, approximately 100,000 flights took to the sky and landed without incident. "In 2013 over three billion people flew and there were 210 fatalities. Regrettably, we have surpassed that number already this year," he said. Nevertheless, he said, getting on an aircraft was still among the safest activities that one could do as safeguarding customers from harm during transportation around the world was core to the mission of the aviation industry. "It has been that way throughout our development over the last century. And we continue to do everything in our power to make flying ever safer," he said. Tyler also expressed his condolences to the family members of those who were involved in the Malaysian Airlines MH17, Taiwan's TransAsia Airways GE222 and Algerian Air Algerie AH5017 tragedies. "Every accident is one too many. The greatest respect that we can pay to the memory of those involved is to leave nothing unturned in our quest to understand the cause and to take steps to ensure that it is not repeated," he said. --BERNAMA