2009: SECOND SAFEST YEAR IN AVIATION HISTORY SAYS IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recently revealed the final statistics of flight safety for 2009; it was the second safest year for the airline industry. Every year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) diligently overviews the results of the previous 12 months and monitors the safety situation in the airline industry. The statistics for 2009 proved to be rather positive. In fact, last year was the second safest year for air travel. One of the significant factors is the global accident rate, which in 2009 equated 0.71 aircraft hulls lost per million flights. That is a considerable improvement against 0.81 in 2008. The safest year so far was 2006 with 0.65 hulls lost per one million flights. IATA is associated with 231 member airlines which last year carried 2.1 million passengers safely on a total of 35 million flights. However, the overall statistic consists of specific regional data, according to which the safest regions are North Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth of Independent States with zero western-built hull losses last year. Europe and North America still proved better than average with 0.45 and 0.41 respectively. An increased accident rate was, however, recorded in Asia-Pacific (0.86), The Middle East and North Africa (an alarming 3.32). The worst accident rate was recorded in Africa with 9.94 hulls lost per million flights – a sad increase from 2.12 in the previous year.Overall, however, the accident rate involving both, Eastern and Western-built jets dropped from 109 in 2008 to 90 in 2009. Incidents involving the runway accounted for 26% of the total number in 2009. Even though the numbers are positive, there is always plenty of room for improvement. As Mr. Giovanni Bisignani, the Director of IATA noted, “every fatality is a human tragedy that reminds us of the ultimate goal of zero accidents and zero fatalities.” Related:BUDGET AIRLINES GREENER THAN OTHERS?EU: AIRLINES HAVE TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONSWORLD AIRLINES SET FOR EVEN MORE DISASTROUS PERIOD