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Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

March 11th - Flying with confidence

Today's travel podcast shines a light on fear of flying. Commercial aviation has never been safer, with no fatal crashes involving scheduled passenger jets in 2023. But anyone anxious about flying need not look far to feed their aerophobia – I'm thinking of events such as the fire on board the Japan Airlines Airbus A350 approaching Tokyo, and the Alaska Airlines incident involving a door plug on a Boeing 737 Max.


Thankfully I don't but many people do have concerns, and so British Airways has a one-day course called Flying With Confidence that seeks to allay the fears of prospective passengers – culminating with a short flight. I've been hearing all about it from course director and presenter Captain Steve Allright, who has 33 years of flying experience.


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