Although aviation has become increasingly safer in recent years, some areas and airlines are so dangerous that UK passengers are advised to avoid them.
Nepal’s mountainous terrain and small airports make it one of the most unsafe places in the world to fly, and many of its airlines – including its three domestic carriers Nepal Airlines, Buddha Air and Himalaya Airways – are banned from entering British airspace.
21 Nepal Airlines aircraft present in British aviation safety checklistwhich details the countries and airlines that are unable to fly aircraft to and from the UK due to safety concerns.
Most of the airlines on the list are from African and Middle Eastern countries, including flag carrier Sudanese Airlines, Eritrean Airlines, Iran Air and Iraqi Airways, but also include some European airlines such as Aeroflot and Armenian Airlines .
Aviation safety expert Jeffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of Airline Ratings, said accident rates have been higher in poorer countries for decades for a variety of reasons. One problem is corruption, which varies from airline to airline but is still “terrible,” he said.
“You never know if the pilots you have are capable, if they have the proper training, and if they bribed their way into the job. That’s a serious problem,” he told I.
“There are some airlines that I would have never dreamed of,” Thomas said, without naming them.
On the other hand, he named British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa as airlines with the best safety records, adding that European low-cost carriers were equally good.
“I love easyJet, it’s a great airline,” said the Australian expert. “I always travel with them when I’m in Europe.”
While many of the airlines on the air safety list may not be on the radar of many British travelers, one banned airline affects a significant portion of the UK population.
Pakistan is one of 24 countries on the list, and the governance and safety standards of its government-owned flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have been questioned by global aviation authorities for years.
In 2020, an investigation into a Pakistan International Airlines crash in Karachi that killed 97 people revealed that nearly a third of Pakistan’s pilots, the vast majority of whom flew commercial aircraft, may have Holding a fake license or cheating on exams. This grounded 262 of Pakistan’s 860 pilots, including 141 of PIA’s 434 pilots.
The scandal led the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to ban the airline from flying to and from its airspace and the UK, home to Europe’s largest Pakistani community with a population of more than 1.5 million.
Pakistani newspapers said the PIA had cleared 110 of the 141 pilots whose licenses had been revoked. dawn the report said. The airline revoked the licenses of 15 pilots and 14 others were declared unfit to fly.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority expressed hope that PIA flights to UK resume in Mayafter Senior airline officials express confidence The European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) safety review committee is likely to approve the plan this year.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global commercial aviation industry, including passenger and cargo transport, experienced 30 accidents in 2023, an improvement from 42 the previous year.
The transportation association reported that there were no fatal accidents involving passenger aircraft in 2023, but there was one fatal accident involving a turboprop aircraft, a small aircraft typically used for low-altitude and short-distance flights.
In January 2023, a propeller plane operated by Nepalese airline Yeti Air crashed in the central Nepalese city of Pokhara, a popular city for tourists trekking in the Himalayas, killing all 72 people on board.
Investigation ended The crash was likely caused by the pilot mistakenly cutting power to the aircraft, causing an “aerodynamic stall.”
aviation accidents around the world
Aviation accident rates improved in most regions around the world in 2023, with Europe emerging as one of the safest places to fly.
According to IATA, Africa had the highest accident rate in 2023, at 6.38 per million flights, compared with 0.48 in Europe.
The Middle East and North Africa region had the second highest accident rate, with 1.16 accidents per million flights, followed by North America (1.14), Commonwealth of Independent States (1.09), Asia Pacific (0.78) and Latin America and the Caribbean (0.37 ).
North Asia, which includes China, Hong Kong and Mongolia, is the only region with an accident rate of 0, down from 0.45 in 2022.
The figures show “all aviation accident” rates for commercial jetliners and turboprop aircraft.
The all-accident rate for 2023 was 0.80 per million flights (equivalent to 1 incident per 1.26 million flights), an improvement from 1.30 in 2022 and the lowest level in more than a decade.
Explaining some of the reasons why poorer countries suffer more accidents, Mr Thomas said: “A lot has to do with pilot training and national wealth because these countries don’t have the infrastructure, the air traffic control systems and the airports are not up to standard.
“Unfortunately, in Africa, there are many countries that are not wealthy and therefore do not have navigation systems.
“Another country that falls into this category is Nepal, which has incredibly mountainous terrain and very substandard airports, so it’s a very dangerous place to fly.”
Countries on the UK aviation safety list
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Armenia
- Comoros
- Congo (Brazzaville)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Iran
- Iraq
- Kyrgyzstan
- Liberia
- Libya
- Nepal
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Russia
- sao tome and principe
- Sierra Leone
- Sudan
- Surinam
- Venezuela
- Zimbabwe
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