Airline travel was safer in 2006 than in
any year on record with one accident for every 1.5 million flights
on Western-built jets, including cargo flights, according to
figures released last week by IATA.
But IATA also
showed accident rates were significantly higher in the Commonwealth
of Independent States, which comprises Russia and its former Soviet
republics (excluding Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), and in Africa
(excluding North Africa).
The CIS accident
rate was 13 times the global average, with 8.6 accidents per
million flights on Western-built jets, compared with the global
average of 0.65 per million. IATA said
it was working with the International Civil Aviation Organization,
the CIS and airlines to improve the safety record there. Africa's
record has improved, but it still ranked second-worst with 4.31
accidents per million flights, and IATA said it was working with
"relevant organizations" with a focus on upgrading onboard systems
and navigation databases.
IATA calculated a
14% improvement in the accident rate compared with 2005 and said it
wanted to reduce the rate by another 25% this year to 0.49 per
million flights.
There were 30%
fewer accidents by number compared with 2005, as the total fell
from 111 to 77. There were 855 accident
fatalities in 2006, lower than the 1,035 in 2005 but higher than
the 428 deaths in 2004.
IATA members
voted last year to make passing an IATA Operational Safety Audit a
condition of IATA membership, giving airlines until the end of 2007
to get audited and until the end of 2008 to resolve any issues the
audit raised. The accident rate for IATA member airlines in 2006
was 0.48 per million flights.
Other 2006
accident statistics of note:
" Seventy-six percent involved
passenger aircraft and 24% cargo, disproportionate with cargo's 4%
of global operations. IATA said standards for cargo operators have
been incorporated into the IATA Operational Safety Audit
program.
" Forty-three percent occurred
during operations in adverse weather. IATA said training was the
key issue, particularly with respect to the decision to abort
landing in bad weather conditions. IATA said it was working to
improve flight crew standards with enhanced training that focused
on the process leading to the decision to abort a landing, as well
as the proper execution of the aborted landing once the decision
had been made.
" Thirty-eight percent involved
flight crew communication issues, either between pilots or between
pilots and air traffic controllers. IATA said it was implementing
programs to help pilots and air traffic controllers improve their
language skills and adopt standard phraseology to prevent
communication breakdowns.
" Thirty-three percent involved
flight crew training issues. IATA said the key to helping with this
issue was making sure the industry knew about the "best practices"
in training.
" Ten percent took place on the ground.
IATA said it would begin audits in 2008 for an IATA Safety Audit
for Ground Operations.
To contact reporter Andrew Compart, send e-mail to [email protected].