Update
By MATT BEARDMORE
Fatal crashes of Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and TransAsia Airways planes in the past year have prompted travelers to raise questions about the safety of Asian carriers and whether steps are being taken to ensure their security.
Officials said at least 35 people died Wednesday morning when a TransAsia twin turboprop crashed into the Keelung River shortly after leaving the downtown Taipei Songshan Airport. Fifty-eight passengers (31 of whom were Chinese nationals) were on board the flight bound for the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands located near Xiamen in southeastern China. The Aviation Safety Council in Taiwan said Friday that the plane had trouble with its engines before the crash.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing (and has yet to be found) en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8 with 239 on board, and Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17 with none of the 298 passengers and crew surviving.
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If that happens, the AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes deserves much of the credit, said Tom Linton, a sales and marketing executive at Trails of Indochina, a destination management and luxury travel company based in Vietnam.
Since retweeting the @AirAsia announcement that Flight 8501 had gone missing — “AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning on.fb.me/1xpx5pl” — Mr. Fernandes has maintained an active presence on social media and in front of the cameras, providing updates and words of encouragement for the passengers’ families, friends and loved ones.
“I think he’s been great,” Mr. Linton said. “The fact that he came on right away and he was so responsible and responsive by having an emergency update hotline set up and going on Twitter with updates — that’s what people want. Malaysia Airlines was a total mess” in its response to Flight 370, he said.
Trails of Indochina books 30,000 travelers each year to Southeast Asia, and Mr. Linton said that since the AirAsia crash no passengers have called with concerns about air travel in the region or requested to cancel trips. The same has been true for Lakewood, Colo.-based Haimark, an operator of river cruise ships and coastal cruise vessels in Southeast Asia and India.
“I’ve never witnessed an issue [with AirAsia flights] or seen things that have been alarming to me as a pilot [of small aircraft] or a passenger,” said Marcus Leskovar, Haimark’s managing partner, finance and procurement, who last took an AirAsia flight three days before Thanksgiving on a trip from Mandalay, Myanmar, to Bangkok.
