Flying has never been safer, says Qatari air industry chief

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Travelling by plane is safer than ever despite a series of headline-grabbing airline disasters in recent months, the head of a major global aviation group said yesterday.

"With one jet hull loss for every 4.4mn flights last year, flying has never been safer," said Tony Tyler, International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general, told the group's 71st annual meeting.

"In contrast, paradoxically so, aviation safety has been a constant in recent headlines," added Tyler, describing the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 in March 2014, the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over war-torn Ukraine in July last year and the deliberate crash by a co-pilot of a Germanwings flight into the French Alps in March as "extraordinary" events.

"Every loss is a tragedy," Tyler told the opening session of the meeting, which drew more than 1,000 industry leaders from around the world to south Florida.