If the safety culture of MK Airlines is as inexistent as reported by ‘disconnected’, then future might be all except very attractive for Ostend. MK has on average two visits each day on Ostend Airport (B747 & DC8). The airport is very close to the town, and not like in Halifax and other places several kilometers away. Worse, before leaving, the unfortunate plane was maintained in Ostend from 6 to 8 October, although it had a major maintenance inspection in Jakarta in September and according to the Canadian press it had ‘somewhere’ two engines replaced in the weeks leading up to the accident. Indeed, where the replacements have been done, is yet not known.
http://www.wiloo.be/mk747_9g-mkj_ebos_6oct04.wmv
If the accident had occurred in Ostend, 500 meters away from the end of the runway, the airplane would have crashed amid a residential area with unassessable consequences!
I’m not astonished to learn that Manston Airport was happy to loose MK in favour (!) of Ostend, and I wonder what Belgian authorities will decide in connection with MK Airlines landing on Belgian soil.