The Business Times
business-time-50
THE BROAD VIEW

MH17 was the warning. The Middle East is the test

Aviation safety faces new challenges amid escalating US-Israel-Iran tensions. Is the industry ready?

Summarise
google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
阅读简体中文版 (beta)
    • A plane taking off from an airport in Lebanon. In modern conflicts, states often lack full visibility over their territory. Airspace may be legally open while operationally unsafe.
    • It has been more than a decade since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine.
    • A plane taking off from an airport in Lebanon. In modern conflicts, states often lack full visibility over their territory. Airspace may be legally open while operationally unsafe. PHOTO: REUTERS
    • It has been more than a decade since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Linus Benjamin Bauer

    Published Fri, Mar 27, 2026 · 09:00 AM

    GEOPOLITICS and aviation safety rarely intersect as violently as they did on Jul 17, 2014. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

    In the decade since, the aviation industry has confronted an uncomfortable truth: The system designed to keep civil aviation safe was never built for an era of fragmented conflicts, asymmetric warfare and proliferating advanced weaponry.

    Today, as tensions escalate across the Middle East – including risks around Iranian airspace – the lessons of MH17 are no longer historical. They are operational.

    AirlinesAviationRegulationrisk managementIran war

    TRENDING NOW

    Traffic through the strait has been resuming but with interruptions, and there is still little clarity over a permanent solution for passages through the chokepoint.

    Qatari LNG ship struck in Strait of Hormuz, testing US talks

    This comes after a Citi note on Tuesday that lifted target prices for all Singapore banks, with a leading preference and “buy” call for DBS.

    DBS shares rise 1.9% to hit all-time intraday high as sentiment improves

    Aster deputy CEO Andre Khor, citing the age of the “polycrisis”, says: “It’s very important to be agile, to be focused on execution… We don’t know all the answers but we keep going forward.”

    ‘Baptism of fire’: Andre Khor on leading Singapore refiner Aster through an energy crisis

    Singapore ranks as the world’s most expensive city for cars and placed third globally for residential property.

    Singapore retains top spot as most expensive city for HNWIs, with five Apac cities in global top 10

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More