( CNN ) -- News that debris was found after an Indonesia AirAsia flight went missing over the weekend marked the third major incident involving Southeast Asian airlines this year . In March , Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing after it mysteriously deviated from its scheduled flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing . The plane is believed to have been lost over the southern Indian Ocean near Australia , yet no wreckage has been found . Then , in July , Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine -- possibly by pro-Russian separatists , although Russia suggested that Ukraine was in some way responsible . So , are passengers traveling in Southeast Asia rattled ? The latest incident has certainly fanned concern that travelers might lose confidence in regional airlines altogether , particularly Malaysian carriers . Yet although Flight QZ8501 was an AirAsia flight , it was operated by Indonesia AirAsia , which is not a Malaysian airline and is instead majority-owned by Indonesian interests . ( The AirAsia group has similar minority holdings in subsidiaries in Thailand , the Philippines , India , and , soon , Japan , although these subsidiary airlines use the AirAsia brand ) . Yet while travelers will likely be somewhat unsettled by this year 's developments , AirAsia will probably weather this difficult period . After all , the group pioneered the low-cost model in Asia , and has built a strong reputation for affordable and safe flying . Until the QZ8501 incident , more than 200 million passengers had flown on the AirAsia network , including its long-haul arm AirAsia X , with no plane having been lost . Led by its formidable founder and CEO Tony Fernandes , the airline has built a reputation as the champion of the average passenger in the face of more expensive full-service carriers . Missing planes and air disasters : How bad was 2014 ? In the process , the airline has won the loyalty and gratitude of millions of working-class Asians for whom flying has become an affordable reality . It is therefore unlikely that recent unfortunate incidents will be able to change this . What about rivals swooping in to pick up the business ? The reality is that there is no pan-Asian low-cost competitor with operations on the scale of AirAsia 's . Indeed , because of restrictions in most countries in the region that prohibit foreigners from holding majority stakes in local airlines , AirAsia has had to improvise by establishing minority-owned subsidiaries all over Asia . And , although these are technically separate airlines , their common branding and Internet booking platform ensures that there is only one AirAsia in most passengers ' minds . That said , the way AirAsia manages the crisis will also be critical in determining its future . So far , the consensus seems to be that Fernandes is faring pretty well by being open , forthright and consistent with the families and media . However , much will ultimately depend on what actually happened to Flight QZ8501 . If it is determined to have been a weather-related accident , as has been widely suggested , the traveling public is likely to see this as a one-off event that can eventually be overlooked . It will only be if the airline itself is found to be somehow at fault -- or perhaps if the cause of the incident remains unexplained -- that there may be some lingering concerns among passengers . All this said , air transport is undergoing phenomenal growth in Asia , with the region poised to overtake North America as the world 's largest and most dynamic aviation market . This suggests that the three , likely unrelated , incidents this year should not warrant sweeping generalizations or suggestions that airlines in the region have somehow become less safe than airlines elsewhere . Of course , such incidents should still serve to remind airlines and governments everywhere that safety is of paramount importance , and that the explosive growth of air travel must also be accompanied by stringent safety and security standards . But for now , passengers in Southeast Asia are savvy enough to understand the difference between a trend and tragic but isolated accidents .
Alan Khee-Jin Tan : Flight QZ8501 stirs fears passengers might lose confidence . But he says low-cost pioneer AirAsia will probably weather this difficult period . Airline has won the loyalty and gratitude of millions of working-class Asians , he says .