Tourism Industry in Chaos after Yet Another Plane Falls From the Sky
Category: World News
Written by Gemma Thomas
On May 19th 2016 at 2.30 Egypt Standard Time, an Egypt Air flight 804 that was bound from Paris to Cairo, 10 miles after they had entered Egyptian air space. 66 people were on board the flight, which included 10 staff. The passengers included 30 Egyptians, 15 French people, two Iraqis, one Kuwaiti, one Sudanese, one Saudi, one Chadian, one Algerian, one British and one Canadian and there were two babies and one child among the group.
According to Greek military radar data, the plane veered suddenly to the right and then again to the left just prior to a rapid loss of altitude over the Mediterranean Sea. Search and rescue planes and helicopters from Egypt, Greece and France were sent but no wreckage has been found. EgyptAir posted a press release online stating that the wreckage of the plane had been discovered near Karpathos island, however, Greek authorities investigated the area and found that the debris was not in fact from a plane. As of the evening of 19th May 2016, the plane and the bodies have not been recovered.
Suspicion of Foul Play
The U.S former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton suggested that the plane's disappearance was probably an act of terrorism. Egypt's Aviation Minister agrees with her and said terrorism was the stronger possibility than mechanical failure.
A Spate of Air Disasters
This comes less than two months after EgyptAir flight 181 was hijacked by a man wearing a fake suicide belt. The Alexandria to Cairo flight was forced to divert to Cyprus and passengers were held hostage for several hours. Thankfully no one was hurt.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared two years ago on the way to Beijing with 239 people on board. Their bodies have never been found.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Ukraine and all 298 passengers and crew were killed. Among them were 38 Australians, who were recently ruled as victims of 'gross mass murder' by an Australian coroner.
Indonesia AirAsia flight 8501 crashed following mechanical fault in the same year - 2014 - killing 162 people aboard.
Germanwings flight 9525 was deliberately crashed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, killing all 150 people. Andreas was suffering from depression and an eye condition that would have ended his career. He kept this information from his employers and they failed to notice his deteriorating eyesight. He attended 41 doctors in an attempt to cure his sight problem and began an eye treatment with side-effects that included drowsiness and suicidal ideation. Flying under the influence of drugs, he became fixated on suicide and descending planes and had made internet searches on suicide and crashing planes before he killed himself, the pilot, five other crew members and all the passengers.
Airbus A321 was blown up in 2015 - in Egypt - only 23 minutes after take-off, killing all 224 passengers. The extremist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
Tourists Cancel Holiday Plans and Stock Market Falls
The cluster of deadly air disasters has led to public fear and security concerns as scores of holiday-makers cancel their plans and stay at home. This has damaged the economy of the country's concerned and the tourism trade. Egypt's already fragile economy in the wake of the latest crash and its stock market value fell.
Visitors to the country numbered around 900,000 in the month of October 2015, which had dropped to 500,000 just a month later. The tourism trade employs 12% of the total Egyptian workforce and has been struggling to provide livelihoods for its workers since the 2013 military takeover and the civil unrest it caused.
Malaysia Airlines made a loss of 97.2 million dollars in April to June of 2014, after the loss of flight MH370 in March of that year. MH370 and MH17 both fell in a very short space of time between tragedies, causing a loss of public confidence and a 33% reduction in weekly bookings. After the disasters, many frightened travellers cancelled their flights, electing to stay at home. This put the airline in severe financial difficulty and has raised questions about its competency.
Just as Malaysia Airlines has not yet recovered its reputation, EgyptAir may find it difficult to do so.
Other airlines around the world are experiencing similar financial losses. EasyJet, a budget airline in the UK, lost 24 million pounds in the first half of 2016, due to stock market fluctuations due to unrest and the threat of terrorism.
It is clear that a uniform response from the governments is needed before more lives are lost and to restore confidence in aviation.
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