Experts give vote of confidence to civil aviation safety

BEIJING: Despite concerns over civil aviation safety triggered by the crash of a passenger jet in southern China, the nation’s civil aviation industry is still safe and trustworthy, experts said.

Li Xiaojin, a professor of aviation economics at Civil Aviation University of China in Tianjin, said: “China’s civil aviation safety can be trusted. Before the crash, the country had a safe flight record for 4,227 days, the best such record worldwide. This is a remarkable achievement for a vast nation with a large volume of passengers.”

From 2005 to 2020, China was ranked the world’s second-largest air transportation market in traffic volume after the United States, according to World Bank data.

Monday’s tragedy ended China’s 12-year civil aviation safety record and also raised concerns over flight safety.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Emergency Management and the Office of the Work Safety Committee issued a notice requiring all regions, relevant departments and service providers to heed the crash as a warning, and to carry out in-depth inspections.

According to the notice, the civil aviation sector must implement safety hazard inspections, adopt administrative penalties when necessary, and urge service providers to establish risk-control mechanisms to ensure operational safety.

On Tuesday, the CAAC launched a two-week safety inspection of the industry aimed at discovering and eliminating safety hazards.

The inspection is being carried out in all areas, including regional civil aviation administrations, airline companies, airports and pilot training organisations.

The CAAC has told all those involved to first carry out a self-examination.

Random checks are also being implemented by the administration to ensure the evaluation is effective. — China Daily/ANN