A 60-year-old French female passenger died suddenly on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi to Paris on March 10.
After being informed of the incident, the captain contacted air traffic control at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and a Vietnam Airlines’ representative in France subsequently contacted the passenger’s family to inform them of the incident and provide support when the plane landed.
Data from Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi shows that the French passenger successfully passed all checkpoints before boarding. Her companion on the flight was a doctor.
The airline has delivered her body to French authorities and sent flowers to the family.
The odds of someone dying on a plane are remarkably slim and airline crew are generally trained on how to handle such incidents.
Air travel is considered one of the safest forms of transportation available. According to Dutch aviation consulting firm To70 and the Aviation Safety Network, there were no commercial passenger jet fatalities in 2017, making it the safest year on record for commercial air travel.