IATA data shows safety in commercial airlines has improved
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released 2021 safety performance data for the commercial airline industry, showing strong improvement in several areas compared to both 2020 and to the last five years
“Safety is always our highest priority. The severe reduction in flight numbers last year compared to the five-year average magnified the impact of each accident when we calculate rates. Yet in the face of numerous operational challenges in 2021, the industry improved in several key safety metrics. At the same time, it is clear that we have much work ahead of us to bring all regions and types of operations up to global levels of safety performance,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
The overall increase in the fatality risk in 2021 to 0.23 is owing to the rise in fatal turboprop accidents. There was one fatal accident involving jet aircraft last year and the jet fatality risk in 2021 was 0.04 per million sectors, an improvement over the five-year average of 0.06.
The overall fatality risk of 0.23 means that on average, a person would need to take a flight every day for 10,078 years to be involved in an accident with at least one fatality.
IOSA contributes to improving flight safety
IOSA is the global industry standard for airline operational safety audits and a requirement for IATA membership. It is used by numerous authorities in their regulatory safety programmes.
“The contribution of IOSA to improving safety was demonstrated in the superb results of airlines on the registry—regardless of region of operation. We will continue to evolve IOSA to support even better industry safety performance,” said Walsh.
The global average jet hull loss rate declined slightly in 2021 compared to the five-year average (2017-2021). Five regions saw improvements, or no deterioration compared to the five-year average. Five regions showed improvement or no deterioration in the turboprop hull loss rate in 2021 when compared to the 5-year average. The only regions to see increases compared to the five-year average were the CIS and Africa.
Although sectors flown by turboprops represented just 10.99 per cent of total sectors, accidents involving turboprop aircraft represented 50 per cent of all accidents, 86 per cent of fatal accidents and 49 per cent of fatalities in 2021.
“Turboprop operations will be a focus area to identify ways and means to reduce the number of incidents related to certain aircraft types,” said Walsh.