The lesson from flight MH17 is that in a time of war, safety must come before the profits of airlines

The crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) has provoked intense debate over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but what lessons should the crash have for aviation safety? Simon Bennett writes that we must learn from the experience of MH17 and other incidents in the past. He argues that there is always a trade-off within commercial aviation between the safety of passengers and the profits of airlines, and that aviation authorities should ensure an exclusion zone is placed around trouble spots in future to ensure passenger safety.