Ill-fated EK521 flew around 60 hours preceding accident

Dubai - Speculation on the causes of the accident unwise at this point, says aviation expert.

The Emirates flight EK521 which was involved in an accident at Dubai International Airport on Wednesday afternoon belongs to Boeing 777 family.
According to a senior aviation analyst, the Boeing's 777 family is one of the safest with a despatch reliability rate of more than 99.7 per cent.
Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst at London's StrategicAero Research, told Khaleej Times that "Speculation on the causes (of the accident) is unwise at this point."
All the 300 passengers, including 18 crew members, on board the flight, which was travelling to Dubai from Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala, a southern state in India, had a miraculous escape when the plane crash-landed on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the flight records indicate that the plane flew a number of routes in the days preceding the incident, including flights between Dubai and Tunis and between Tunis and Luqa (Malta) on August 2, and between Dubai and Abuja and back on August 1.
It was its second flight of the day before landing at Dubai International airport on Wednesday around 12:50pm.
During the last five days this 13 years old aircraft took around 60 hours flights. During the last five days its longest flight was 7 hours and 38 minutes from Ghana's capital Accra to Dubai on July 30.
"The 777 family is arguably one of the safest if not safest airplane ever designed and built. Barring the handful of incidents, notably the disappearance of flight MH370 and the shooting down of MH71, all 777-series jets have an impeccable safety record," Saj Ahmad said.
With a commendable despatch reliability rate, Ahmad said, "the 777 is not just the backbone of Emirates' fleet, but it is also regarded as the backbone of all international airlines that operate the type."
He added: "With this being the first ever major incident of a 777 for Emirates, the ensuing investigation will uncover what happened and why."
The ill-fated aircraft was Boeing 777-31h, which was delivered to Emirates in March 2003. Emirates is the world's largest Boeing 777 operator, flying 156 out of over 1,400 Boeing 777s delivered.
It was on June 5 the airlines marked its 20 years since it took delivery of its first Boeing 777 aircraft.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com
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Know the Boeing family
The Boeing 777 family aircraft has been involved in 15 aviation accidents and incidents, including six hull-loss accidents, one of which was caused by war conflict and another undetermined cause, for a total of 540 fatalities.
The world's largest twinjet has a typical seating capacity of 314 to 451 passengers with a range of 5,235 to 9,500 nautical miles.
Out of top 20 longest flights, the Boeing 777 is being used in 13 flights.
Boeing 777 first came into commercial operation on June 7 1995. It's price ranges from $261 to $300.5 million
The Emirates Boeing 777 flies to 110 destinations. Emirates airline has 185 Boeing 777s on order with 16 Boeing 7777-300ERs to be delivered this year.

• Dubai