With pilots saying it would have cost relatively little for an airline to avoid the war-torn area of eastern Ukraine, the airline industry swung to the defence of Malaysia Airlines for using that corridor, the most direct route between northern Europe and south-east Asia.

“No airline will risk the safety of their passengers, crew and aircraft for the sake of fuel savings,” Tony Tyler, the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association that represents airlines, said in a statement.

Mr Tyler said airlines worked within the airspace deemed available for flights by governments and air traffic control authorities.

“It is very similar to driving a car,” he said. “If the road is open, you assume that it is safe. If it’s closed you find an alternate route.”

But some airlines had begun to avoid flying over eastern Ukraine, the scene of a bitter conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government.

Etihad, for instance, said it had been avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace since the conflict started in March. Korean carriers Korean Air and Asiana reportedly did the same.

“There is no overriding regulatory global body that tells airlines where they can and can’t fly,” spokesman for Safeskies Australia, Doug Nancarrow, said.

“Their risk evaluation department in their operations decided this was not a high-risk area,” Mr Nancarrow said. “Obviously they got it wrong, but that's a process they went through.”

“The speculation in the industry would have been that it is a fuel saving measure.”

Fairfax Media spoke to three international pilots on Saturday who said bypassing eastern Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would add use between 4000 and 8000 litres of jet fuel for a Boeing 777-200ER flying.

At spot prices of just under $2 a litre, this may have added between $8000 and $16,000 to the cost of a flight, though airlines would probably get more attractive prices.

“We are not talking a lot of money,” one former pilot said.

“I just don't think anyone expected the bad guys to have that sort of equipment.”

Analyses of flight paths over eastern Ukraine show that Singapore Airlines had been regularly using the corridor. In a statement, the airline said it was “no longer using the Ukrainian airspace.”

The tragedy of MH17 comes just four months following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The franchisee at Harvey World Travel Circular Quay, Yohan Siva, said people were still willing to fly Malaysia Airlines after MH370 went missing, and it was too early to assess the impact this time.

“Price is a big factor,” Mr Siva said. “What Malaysia Airlines did was they brought in really really low fares,” Mr Siva said of the response to MH370.

“Those who were price conscious were happy to take those options.”

In the wake of the MH17 tragedy, the US air authorities have issued a notice to airlines to avoid that area of Ukraine.