Let’s keep fog delays in perspective National Editorial January 5, 2015 Nobody hearing the stories about delays caused by fog at Abu Dhabi International Airport this week could fail to feel some sympathy for those whose travel plans were disrupted. With the possible exception of passengers booked to travel in The Residence, Etihad’s new A380 luxury class, few people would choose to spend more time on board a plane than absolutely necessary. That said, it is important to maintain a sense of proportion. While everyone would rather complete their journeys in time and either return to their loved ones, do business or begin their holidays, the primary concern has to be safety. The delays due to fog are annoying but, as any UAE resident knows, fog is also a sign that clear sunny skies are ahead. The fog will eventually lift and the delayed flights will take off. The primacy of safety over schedules is all the more pertinent after the run of high-profile aviation tragedies in 2014. While the loss of two Malaysia Airlines planes and then last month’s Air Asia crash may have caused some to question aviation safety, the reality is that flying is, by far, the safest mode of travel. Even with those three incidents, 2014 was the year with the fewest plane crashes since 1927. That’s quite a statistic considering how few flights there were in 1927. Increased air safety did not come about through some sort of serendipitous happenstance but through the relentless pursuit of this goal, over and above everything else. That is the context in which the fog delays in Abu Dhabi ought to be seen. Of course, this does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Reports of people being stuck on board planes that wait on the tarmac for better flying weather up to 12 hours, make for grim reading. Even though the crew and the air-traffic controllers are as much at the mercy of the fickle nature of fog as the passengers, it may be worth providing as much information and in as timely a manner as possible. Passengers also deserve to be looked after in every way possible by the airline, to soothe discomfort and calm the spirit. Even so, it’s probably worth remembering that flight delays ultimately fall squarely into the category of problems that are annoying more than anything else. Arriving at one’s destination late is far better than never arriving at all. thenational.ae/opinion/lets-keep-fog-delays-in-perspective
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 20:36:52 +0000
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