Aircraft

IATA confirms 2006 showed the lowest accident rate ever for world airlines

Last year was the safest in history for the world’s airlines according to the International Air Transport Association’s director general Giovanni Bisignani.

The 2006 industry hull loss rate was 0.65 accidents per million flights for Western-built jets, equivalent to one accident for every 1.5 million flights—a 14% improvement on 2005. IATA’s member airlines performed significantly better than the global average with a hull-loss rate of 0.48 accidents per million flights, or one accident for every two million flights.

Bisignani said: “The safety results for 2006 are impressive…but we must do even better. With demand for air travel increasing at 5-6% per year, the accident rate must decrease just to keep the actual number of accidents in check. The interim target is to reduce the industry [global average] rate to 0.49 accidents per million flights in 2008.”

Last year was bad for the Commonwealth of Independent states, says the report, which suffered a hull loss rate 13 times the global average. Africa, often the least safe aviation region, was still poor with 4.31 accidents per million flights.

IATA’s report highlights the three most common contributory factors in accidents, with weather topping the list. Weather was a factor in 43% of accidents, poor communications between pilots or between pilots and controllers featured in 38%, and in 33% of accidents inadequate pilot training was deemed causal.