Tehran shootdown: Ukraine Fligth PS752 opens geopolitical Pandora’s Box for a new decade

A commercial airliner full of passengers, shot down during a regional conflict involving one of the world’s most powerful states, with denials from those responsible swiftly contradicted as evidence leaks out from our increasingly interconnected world. The story of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 is not a new one for aviation.

Even more regrettably, it is not even unique in the last decade. For those on board PS752, and their loved ones, of course, it is a unique personal devastation. For an industry dedicated despite all its flaws to flying passengers at unprecedentedly high levels of safety, it provides stark reminders about how much more work is needed, and how that work may need to change.

PS752 was shot down at the start of a simmering, fast-moving hot conflict

At approximately 0100 Baghdad time on 3 January 2020, a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper fired missiles at two cars departing Baghdad International Airport, killing ten people including Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qasem Soleimani.

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