HONG KONG — The crash of a passenger plane into a river in Taiwan on Wednesday, which killed at least 31 people, has renewed questions about the safety of the airline, TransAsia Airways. It was the carrier’s second deadly accident in less than seven months.
On Thursday, Taiwan’s aviation regulators ordered inspections of all ATR aircraft, the make of the plane that crashed Wednesday shortly after takeoff from the capital, Taipei. The regulatory agency, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, said the inspections would be completed on Thursday for TransAsia’s aircraft and on Friday for ATRs flown by Uni Air, the only other carrier in Taiwan to operate the French- and Italian-made turboprops.
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The crash on Wednesday was TransAsia’s seventh significant safety incident since 1995, including five hull losses, when an aircraft is damaged beyond repair, Flightglobal reported.
“In light of this incident, TransAsia apologizes to passengers, their families and society,” the airline said in a statement on Wednesday. But the airline, Taiwan’s third largest, has provided no detailed explanation for its recent crashes.
