The International Air Transport Association (IATA), has said global aviation safety improved in the industry as 4.54 billion travellers flew safely on 46.8 million flights for the years 2019.
According to a report published on its website, on 56th edition of the Annual Safety Report (2019), the agency said there were 53 aircraft accidents and 240 fatalities in 2019.
It said the all accident rate (including Substantial Damage and Hull Loss accidents for IATA and non-IATA jets and turboprops) improved from 1.36 accidents per million sectors in 2018 to 1.13 in 2019.
IATA added that the 2019 all accident rate of 1.13 was also an improvement over the rolling five-year average rate of 1.56 per million sectors for 2014-2018.
It stated that the number of fatalities in 2019 decreased compared to 2018 (240 vs. 523).
The all accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry was 0.92 per 1 million sectors, versus 1.63 for non-IOSA airlines.”
The data demonstrates the continuous improvement on the overall safety of the aviation industry, following the increase in the number of operations as well as passenger transported worldwide.
Despite the new challenges faced on the beginning of 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic, the industry shall continue to focus on safety as it is crucial to maintain operations of critical links and logistics in such difficult times.
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“The airline industry saw its safety performance improve again in 2019, as the number of total accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities all declined compared to 2018 as well as to the five-year trend lines, even as the number of flights rose to a record 46.8 million. Airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry – which includes all IATA airlines – outperformed airlines that are not on the registry.
Loss of control-in flight and hard landings caused the highest number of fatalities in 2019, reinforcing the need to continue identifying risks and threats and take steps to mitigate them.
The 56th edition of the Annual Safety Report (2019), includes in-depth review of these and other global and regional aviation statistics, including:
• Essential insight into global and regional accident rates and contributing factors.
• Maintenance Errors Analysis from the Global Aviation Data Management programs.
• Regional overview of the safety metrics and corresponding activities for targeted risk management.
