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The International Air Transport Association's 44th annual Safety Report
shows that the 2007 global accident rate of 0.75 hull losses for every million flights by Western-built jet aircraft was slightly higher than the 0.65 rate recorded in 2006. 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% from 855 to 692, even as passenger numbers increased by 6% to over 2.2 billion passengers in
2007. In absolute numbers, there were 100 accidents in 2007 (57 jet, 43 turboprop) compared with 77 accidents in 2006 (46 jet, 31 turboprop).
“Air travel is the safest mode of transportation. In the ten years from 1998, the accident rate was reduced by almost half
- from 1.34
accidents per million flights to 0.75. And the number of fatalities dropped significantly in 2007. That’s good news. But our goal is always to
do better: zero fatalities and zero accidents,” 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 safety. All IATA carriers are required to complete audits and close all findings to join the IOSA Registry by the end of
2008.
“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 number one
priority and starting in 2008, IATA will finance the costs of the IOSA audits for its members. The results are
transparent on www.iata.org/registry
for all to see. And we will be tough. By the end of the year, carriers are either on the Registry, or they are out of
IATA,” said Bisignani.
Regional
Results: Regional accident rates varied. Russia and the CIS had zero accidents in 2007, following a disastrous year in 2006. At
0.09 and 0.29 accidents per million flights, 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. 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. “While this is an improvement over last year, it is still six times less safe to
fly in Africa than the rest of the world. IATA is working side-by-side with our African members to bring them up to IOSA standards. And we
just announced a US$3.7 million programme to give up to 30 African carriers access to IATA’s Flight Data Analysis service for a three-year
period,” said Bisignani.
Contributing
Factors: Almost half (48%) 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. IATA, in cooperation with the
Flight Safety Foundation, is developing a toolkit that will address the issues linked to runway safety enhancement, including the prevention
of runway excursions.
Almost 20% of all accidents in 2007 related to ground damage. Lack of standardisation can contribute to ground handling activities that
result in damage to aircraft. IATA developed the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) programme to drastically reduce aircraft
damage and personal injuries in the ground environment. “Ground damage is a US$4 billion cost to the industry. The launch of the first
global standards for ground safety with ISAGO will improve safety, cut costs and reduce redundant audits,” said
Bisignani.
Almost half of the accidents in 2007 were linked to a technical issue; maintenance events contributed to almost 20% of all occurrences last
year. IATA is revising its safety strategy to encompass maintenance activities and Safety Management System implementation for
maintenance organisations.
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