VOA慢速英语--一些航空公司仍在努力回避冲突地区

Some Airline Companies Still Struggle with How to Avoid Conflict Areas

It has been nearly five years since a Malaysian passenger airplane was shot down over Ukraine.

A missile brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing¹ all its 298 passengers and crew. Investigators³ found that a missile was launched from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The crash led to calls for better international methods for sharing information about dangerous conflict areas to prevent similar tragedies. But many industry experts say more improvements are still needed.

The issue was recently discussed at a conference of the International Air Transport Association in Seoul, the South Korean capital.

Gilberto Lopez-Meyer is the association’s Senior Vice⁴ President for Safety and Flight Operations. He told the Reuters news agency there is a clear need for better ways to collect and share information about air space over conflict areas.

Lopez-Meyer noted⁵ that currently, airline companies often use different information to judge which areas present the greatest flying risks. He added that airlines spend millions of dollars a year on extra fuel to fly around parts of the Middle East and Africa to avoid conflict areas.

Some carriers choose to fly over war-torn countries, while others do not. This was the case at the time of the MH17 crash. In addition to Malaysia Airlines, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines were also flying aircraft over eastern Ukraine. But British Airways⁶ and Air France had avoided the area.

Izham Ismail is the head of Malaysia Airlines. He told Reuters the downing of MH17 led his company to approve new safety measures. “The wound is still here in the whole organization and we take safety very seriously,” he said.

After the MH17 incident, the airline industry backed creation of a United Nations-supported website. The site was supposed to provide the latest information on conflict zones to help carriers. But it later closed because of disputes among nations over how the information should be shared. When this happened, some airlines did not know where to turn for help.

Mark Zee is the founder⁷ of OpsGroup, which launched a free website, called Safe Airspace, to provide guidance to airlines after MH17. “For the big 50 airlines, they have the resources to dedicate a security department to the job,” Zee said.

“For everyone else - and that is thousands of operators - I can tell you that many of them have a really hard time making a decent risk assessment⁸. I see it in the emails we get every day.”

One example is Qatar Airways, which recently decided⁹ to send its aircraft over Syria. Disputes between Qatar and some of its neighbors had blocked the airline from using other nations’ airspace. Qatar Airways’ chief Akbar al-Baker said the company would not fly anywhere that is not safe.

The United States and other countries ban their airlines from flying over Syrian airspace because of safety risks, notes a website operated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

The Dutch Safety Board led the investigation¹⁰ into the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane. In a report in February, the group said the resources available to airlines often communicate changing threat levels too slowly to be useful.

Mohammed Aziz is a former Lebanese air accident investigator². He now works with Aviation Strategies International, a private company which provides assistance to airlines.

“I think after MH17 people became more aware of the problem. They seek information,” Aziz said. “The problem is before they weren’t seeking information. They were waiting for information to come their way.”

The U.N.-assisted International Civil Aviation Organization has approved guidelines for air traffic service officials to report conflict dangers to pilots. But those rules are not set to take effect until November 2020.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

dedicate – v. to give most of your energy and time to something

decent – adj. of a satisfactory quality or level

assessment – n. a judgement about the quality, size, value, etc. of something

resource – n. a supply of materials, workers or money available to help a person or organization operate effectively

aware – adj. to know about something

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。