Don't malign Russia's airlines, say industry experts - it could be worse

The Georgian air crash earlier this week has once again drawn attention to air safety in the former Soviet Union.

The Georgian air crash earlier this week has once again drawn attention to air safety in the former Soviet Union.

On this occasion, a military Ilyushin-18 crashed in fog near the city of Batumi, killing all 82 people on board. As well as service personnel, the propellor plane was carrying holiday-makers and 11 crew.

But despite the doom-laden perception of flying in Russia and its satellite states - entrenched by a poor record in the 1990s - experts are advising people not to be overly nervous of air travel in the region.

"Air safety in Russia is getting better, thank God," said David Learmount of Flight International. "It now has a central command structure and if anyone screws up, their licence is pulled."

There is a long-held perception that Russian and ex-Soviet aviation is not up to scratch, but this may be unfair. Learmount notes that before the Iron Curtain came down Western observers expected that an appalling air safety record would emerge. "In the event we found that it had been pretty good," he said. "In fact, in the last year of the USSR, the Soviets had the best safety record in the world."

He added that one Soviet series, the Ilyushin 86 and 96, is unique for never having had a fatal accident. Russia and the ex-Soviet states are "nowhere near the bottom" of the air disaster tables - that position belongs to Africa.

"Their aircraft have been maligned in the West," he said. "But they are better than people think. I often have concerned parents telephoning because their children are flying by Aeroflot to say, Hong Kong. I say that its record is actually not that bad, but obviously, if they want to pay more for peace of mind then they can."

After the break-up of the old federation, the rot set in. "After 1990 they jettisoned the old infrastructure without replacing it," said Learmount. The civil aviation authorities in Russia went through a particularly low period in 1995 with internal flights run by Aeroflot's successors - the so-called "baby-flots" - that became notorious for running late as well as for poor safety standards.

Todd Curtis, who runs the exhaustive Airsafe website, said: "Air travel in the former Soviet Union is improving, partly as some of the bad airlines are going out of business." But he warned: "There is no equivalent of the FAA in the US, so the ability to research airline safety is limited. It's difficult to tell if the rules are being adhered to."

Curtis's advice to flyers in the former Soviet Union is to "do a little research into the airline". He added: "If it has links with Western air infrastructures so much the better, as it will have been exposed to stringent checks."

He is not as sanguine as Learmount about the air-worthiness of ex-Soviet craft. "I'd fly a Western plane if possible, and try to land in big cities."