Air crash rate rises in 2010

[Ho Really]

Crash rate rises in 2010: IATA
Michael Bruce

Air travel on western-built jet aircraft was the safest in history in 2010, despite the number of casualties and accidents rising across the industry, according to the International Air Transport Association.

But the accident rate on flights in Africa remains 12 times that of the global average, figures have shown.

The accident rate for westernbuilt jet aircraft was 0.61 in 2010 - or one in every 1.6 million flights – a record result for the industry and just below the previous low in 2006.

But there were 94 accidents across eastern and western-built jets last year, up from 90 in 2009.

Total fatalities reached 786, compared to 685 in 2009.

Western-built jets saw total of 17 hull loss accidents in 2010, down from 19 in 2009. A hull loss is deemed when an aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and is not repaired.

While Africa’s accident rate improved from 9.94 last year to 7.41, it still represents 23% of all global western-built jet hull losses, despite only accounting for 2% of traffic.

IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said flying must be equally safe in all parts of the world. “An accident rate in Africa that is over 12 times the global average is not acceptable,” he said.

Hull losses in Asia Pacific were higher than the global average and in line with last year at 0.86. North America had the best performance, at 0.10, while Europe (0.45) and North Asia (0.34) were also below the global average of 0.61.

Bisignani talked up the performance of IATA member airlines, who outperformed the industry average.

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