Members of a search and rescue team carry the body of a victim of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at Iskandar Airbase in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, on Thursday, January 1. A massive recovery operation has begun following confirmation from Indonesian officials that remains and debris found in waters off Borneo were from the missing plane.
Editor's note: Alan Khee-Jin Tan is professor of aviation law at the National University of Singapore and a leading commentator on airline regulatory issues in Asia. The views expressed are the writer's own.
(CNN) -- News that debris was found after an Indonesia AirAsia flight went missing over the weekend marked the third major incident involving Southeast Asian airlines this year.
In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing after it mysteriously deviated from its scheduled flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane is believed to have been lost over the southern Indian Ocean near Australia, yet no wreckage has been found.
Then, in July, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine -- possibly by pro-Russian separatists, although Russia suggested that Ukraine was in some way responsible.
So, are passengers traveling in Southeast Asia rattled?
The latest incident has certainly fanned concern that travelers might lose confidence in regional airlines altogether, particularly Malaysian carriers. Yet although Flight QZ8501 was an AirAsia flight, it was operated by Indonesia AirAsia, which is not a Malaysian airline and is instead majority-owned by Indonesian interests. (The AirAsia group has similar minority holdings in subsidiaries in Thailand, the Philippines, India, and, soon, Japan, although these subsidiary airlines use the AirAsia brand).
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Yet while travelers will likely be somewhat unsettled by this year's developments, AirAsia will probably weather this difficult period. After all, the group pioneered the low-cost model in Asia, and has built a strong reputation for affordable and safe flying. Until the QZ8501 incident, more than 200 million passengers had flown on the AirAsia network, including its long-haul arm AirAsia X, with no plane having been lost.
Led by its formidable founder and CEO Tony Fernandes, the airline has built a reputation as the champion of the average passenger in the face of more expensive full-service carriers.
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In the process, the airline has won the loyalty and gratitude of millions of working-class Asians for whom flying has become an affordable reality. It is therefore unlikely that recent unfortunate incidents will be able to change this.
What about rivals swooping in to pick up the business? The reality is that there is no pan-Asian low-cost competitor with operations on the scale of AirAsia's. Indeed, because of restrictions in most countries in the region that prohibit foreigners from holding majority stakes in local airlines, AirAsia has had to improvise by establishing minority-owned subsidiaries all over Asia. And, although these are technically separate airlines, their common branding and Internet booking platform ensures that there is only one AirAsia in most passengers' minds.
That said, the way AirAsia manages the crisis will also be critical in determining its future.
So far, the consensus seems to be that Fernandes is faring pretty well by being open, forthright and consistent with the families and media. However, much will ultimately depend on what actually happened to Flight QZ8501.
If it is determined to have been a weather-related accident, as has been widely suggested, the traveling public is likely to see this as a one-off event that can eventually be overlooked. It will only be if the airline itself is found to be somehow at fault -- or perhaps if the cause of the incident remains unexplained -- that there may be some lingering concerns among passengers.
All this said, air transport is undergoing phenomenal growth in Asia, with the region poised to overtake North America as the world's largest and most dynamic aviation market. This suggests that the three, likely unrelated, incidents this year should not warrant sweeping generalizations or suggestions that airlines in the region have somehow become less safe than airlines elsewhere.
Of course, such incidents should still serve to remind airlines and governments everywhere that safety is of paramount importance, and that the explosive growth of air travel must also be accompanied by stringent safety and security standards. But for now, passengers in Southeast Asia are savvy enough to understand the difference between a trend and tragic but isolated accidents.
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Marine divers prepare their gear on the deck of a ship before searching for passengers and debris from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on January 1 at Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun.
Indonesian soldiers carry a coffin containing a victim of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 upon arrival at an air force base in Surabaya, Indonesia, on Wednesday, December 31.
Indonesian soldiers carry coffins of crash victims on December 31.
Relatives of passengers pray together inside a holding room at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya on December 31.
Indonesian navy divers inspect their gear in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, before a search operation December 31.
Indonesian Air Force personnel on Tuesday, December 30, show debris, including a suitcase, that was found floating near the site where AirAsia Flight QZ8501 disappeared on Sunday.
Debris floats in the Java Sea on December 30. Flight QZ8501 was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members.
A member of the Indonesian Navy monitors a radar screen during a search operation over the waters near Bangka Island, Indonesia, on December 30.
A piece of debris floats in the Java Sea on December 30.
Family members of missing passengers react at an airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, after watching news reports on December 30.
Debris floats in the Java Sea on December 30.
Relatives of the flight's pilot, Captain Iriyanto, gather at his house in Surabaya on December 30. Second from right is his wife, Rr. Widiya Sukati Putri.
Indonesian Air Force personnel scan the sea from plane windows on December 30.
A member of an Indonesian search and rescue team gestures as the team is ferried out to a ship to conduct search operations on December 30.
Relatives of missing passengers comfort each other December 30 at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.
Relatives gather at Juanda International Airport as they wait for news on December 30.
An Indonesian search and rescue team prepares for a search on December 30.
An Indonesian military airman looks out the window of an airplane during a search over the waters of Karimata Strait on Monday, December 29.
Indonesian Army personnel read a map during a search operation on December 29.
Members of Indonesia's Marine Police pray before a search operation on December 29.
Military personnel perform a search operation on Sunday, December 28.
Sunu Widyatmoko, CEO of Indonesia AirAsia, announces December 28 that the flight lost contact with air traffic control.
Members of the Indonesian Regional Disaster Management Agency walk at a beach as they search for the missing plane on December 28.
Jiang Hui, whose relatives were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, watches the news about the missing AirAsia flight at his house in Beijing on December 28. Flight 370 went missing on March 8 and has yet to be found.
An official from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency points to the position where AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing.
The aircraft went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo, according to Indonesian authorities. It was bound for Singapore.
An official checks a map of Indonesia at Juanda International Airport.
