Aviation: Another aviation shock - loss of Air Algerie aircraft An Air Algerie flight from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, flying over Mali northwards to Algiers, the capital of Algeria, has crashed with 116 people on board. The plane sent its last message around 1:30 GMT, asking Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rains. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and it went missing less than an hour after takeoff from Ouagadougou. The flight, AH5017, plies the four-hour passenger route four times a week. French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said the plane vanished over northern Mali. It was carrying six crew members and 110 passengers including 50 French nationals, according to international media reports. This latest aviation incident is certain to rock the aviation industry as well as insurers as it is the fourth such incident involving the loss of aircraft in two weeks and the fifth in four months. The other incidents are the crash of a TransAsia plane in Taiwan on Wednesday, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on 17 July, the disappearance of MAS MH370 in March and hull losses due to fighting at Tripoli Airport since 13 July. At least 13 aircraft were destroyed or damaged in Tripoli, including a new US$225-million Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 as rival forces shelled the airport. In a report on the Air Algerie plane, the Telegraph newspaper of the UK cited a European diplomat in Ouagadougou as saying that he had been briefed that the aircraft left Burkina Faso airspace and had continued as planned over Malian territory. The area had been in the hands of al-Qaedas affiliates in northern Mali until France intervened to push them out in 2013. Despite this, the European diplomat said that there was no suggestion he had heard that the aircraft could have been specifically targeted by anti-French Islamist forces from the ground. Substantial premium increases are anticipated in the niche war risk market because the aviation losses this year will far exceed premiums written. Source: AIR eDaily
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:12:49 +0000