Emirates president Tim Clark said the recent turbulence incident involving a Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 777-300ER flying from London to Singapore was a lesson for the aviation industry.
It could be recalled that a 73-year-old British man named Geoff Kitchen died aboard while several passengers were injured after the flight encountered severe turbulence and forced it to land in Bangkok.
Incident Report Says Pilots Struggled to Regain Control of Plane
Simple Flying quoted an incident report saying that the pilots engaged controls to stabilize the aircraft while gravitational forces were fluctuating, and the notice for passengers to fasten their seatbelts was switched on as it unfolded.
In the aftermath of the incident, Singapore Airlines amended its in-flight seatbelt rules and rerouted one of its flight routes, particularly the London-Singapore route, due to the turbulence in a part of Myanmar's airspace.
It would also no longer provide hot drinks and meal services when the seatbelt sign is on.
READ NEXT : Singapore Airlines Revises Seatbelt Policy Following Severe Turbulence on London-Singapore Flight
Clark Calls SIA's Turbulence Incident a 'Lesson' to Industry
Clark told CNBC that Singapore Airlines' handling of the incident's aftermath was "a lesson for all of us in the business."
His commentary was made Sunday (Jun. 2) at the International Air Transport Association's annual general meeting in Dubai.
For its part, Clark said that Emirates and the rest of the aviation industry were working on it and were determined to find out how to predict when clean air turbulence might occur, as he claimed that it occurs on a "random basis."
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