The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that the 2011 accident rate for Western-built jets was the lowest in aviation history, surpassing the previous mark set in 2010.
The global accident rate is measured according to hull losses (an accident in which the aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and not subsequently repaired) per million flights of Western-built jets. The rate for 2011 was 0.37, the equivalent of one accident every 2.7 million flights. This is a 39 per cent improvement from 2010, when the accident rate was 0.61, or one accident for every 1.6 million flights.
Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO says, “Safety is the air transport industry’s number one priority […] flying is one of the safest things that a person could do. But, every accident is one too many, and each fatality is a human tragedy. The ultimate goal of zero accidents keeps everyone involved in aviation focused on building an ever safer industry.”
The figures released by IATA go on to show that 2.8 billion people flew safely on 38 million flights in 2011 with 92 total accidents, 22 of which were fatal, on both Eastern and Western built aircraft, down from 94 (23 fatal) in 2010.
The highest cause of accidents remains runway excursions at 18 per cent. This is where an aircraft departs the runway on takeoff or landing, with 88% of the 17 accidents in 2011 coming on landing. Situations where the aircraft is too fast, above the glide slope, touches down beyond the desired touchdown point, or contaminated runways are among the most common contributing factors to runway excursions on landing.
Similarly ground damage was the second most serious concern, accounting for 16 per cent of accidents. This includes incidents involving ground handling operations and incidents during taxi.
The worst performing region remains Africa, where the hull loss rate was down 56 per cent from 7.41 to 3.27. This remains considerably higher than the Middle East and North Africa (2.02), Latin America and the Caribbean (1.28) and considerably worse than North America (0.10), Asia-Pacific (0.25) and Europe which has a hull loss rate of zero.
Tyler said the issues with Africa “are complex and include both insufficient government oversight and a lack of infrastructure investment. We are eager to work with governments to make [the IATA Operational Safety Audit] a part of their safety oversight programs.”
Regional breakdown of Western-built jet hull loss rates:
Source data: IATA
Tyler concludes that, “Aviation’s good record is not the result of complacency. The strong performance in 2011 should not distract us from the need for continuous improvement to drive the accident rate even lower. An even safer future will be built on the foundation stones of global standards, cooperation between industry and government and information sharing.”
For more information visit iata.co.uk.
Report by Scott Carey
