Accidents slightly up, but number of aviation fatalities down 19%

This was largely the result of tragic accidents in Africa, Indonesia and to some extent Brazil. IATA member airlines performed better than the industry average with an accident rate of 0.68 hull losses per million flights.

The number of global fatalities declined 19 per cent from 855 to 692, even as passenger numbers increased by 6 per cent to more than 2.2 billion in 2007. In absolute numbers, there were 100 accidents in 2007, which were 57 jet and 43 turboprop, compared with 77 accidents in 2006 (46 jet and 31 turboprop).

 "Air travel is the safest mode of transport. In the 10 years from 1998, the accident rate was reduced by almost half, from 1.34 accidents per million flights to 0.75. The number of fatalities dropped significantly in 2007. That's good news," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director-general and CEO.

The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is the global standard for airline safety management and a key tool in driving further improvements in global air safety. All IATA carriers are required to complete audits and close all findings for the IOSA registry by the end of this year.

"Making IOSA a condition of IATA membership is a strong commitment by the industry to raise the bar on safety even higher. Our Partnership for Safety programmes are in place to help our members meet the standards and join the registry. Safety is our top priority and, starting in 2008, IATA will finance the costs of the IOSA audits for its members. By the end of the year, carriers are either on the registry or they are out of IATA," said Bisignani.

For regional results, Russia and the Common-wealth of Independent States had zero accidents in 2007. North America and Europe had hull-loss rates significantly better than the global average. A spate of accidents in Indonesia pushed the Asia-Pacific accident rate to 2.76 hull losses per million flights.

The Latin American accident rate was 1.61 hull losses per million flights. IATA is working with the Brazilian government on a comprehensive programme to improve safety, from IOSA to infrastructure improvements.

Africa had the worst record at 4.09 hull-losses per million flights.

Almost half, or 48 per cent, of the year's accidents took place during landing. The majority of these accidents involved a runway excursion. Many of these accidents could have been prevented by the initiation of a timely go-around. Almost 20 per cent of all accidents in 2007 related to ground damage.

Almost half the accidents were linked to a technical issue, and maintenance events contributed to almost 20 per cent of all occurrences last year.

IATA is revising its safety strategy to encompass maintenance activities and Safety Management System implementation for maintenance organisations.