Flight safety is a highly regulated activity both nationally and internationally. The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) is the UN body tasked with the overall management of international flight safety. The rules that are set are then specifically applied and implemented in countries around the world via national civil aviation authorities. In the UK for example, The UK Civil Aviation Authority sets the standards for UK aviation and includes having the ability to ban airlines from its airports which don’t make the grade.
Flight Accident Statistics
However, with all this being in place, accidents do still happen in the air. Over the past 5 years there have been on average about 5 accidents per year with fatalities for commercial aircraft (passengers and cargo). The number of deaths per year is approximately 143. Taking a flight is nevertheless seen as safer than other modes of transportation.
In terms of the past year, there was one flight accident in 2023 which resulted in 72 fatalities. This figure was less than the 5 accidents that occurred in 2022 as well as the 5 accident per year average that was present between 2019 and 2024. According to the IATA (International Air Transport Association), at this level of safety, on average a person would have to travel by air every day for 103.239 years to experience a fatal flight accident.
Success Over the Past Year
In terms of the total number of accidents, according to the IATA, the commercial aviation industry suffered 30 in 2023. This is approximately a 28.6% decrease from the 42 accidents in 2022. Overall, there was an average of one accident for every 680,293 flights. Of the total number of accidents passenger flights were involved in 77% of cases.
The reduction in total number of accidents is a significant improvement from previous years. However, the IATA expresses the need for the industry to remain vigilant. It states that any accident regardless of its severity, or frequency, highlights the importance of maintaining a proactive approach to flight safety, identifying and addressing emerging trends and potential flight safety issues. It would also be important to implement safety measures to reduce the likelihood of flight accidents.
In terms of areas to improve however, an IATA analysis of investigations into accidents from 2018 to 2022 indicated that only 54% of accidents had an investigation report published. It states that this current shortfall in compliance with the rules and regulations prevents the industry’s various stakeholders (relevant groups) from accessing vital information that could significantly improve flight safety.
In conclusion therefore, there has been an improvement in flight safety over the past year. However, airlines and other relevant groups should remain diligent and vigilant in order to improve flight safety and at the very least eliminate accident fatalities. Different airlines may also have varying degrees of success in terms of flight safety. I will be focusing on this in my next article. The ICAO has ambitions to do eliminate accident fatalities by 2030. We have to wait to see how this progresses.
