by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:45 AM ET, Wed February 28, 2024
As part of the 2023 Annual Safety Report for global aviation,
the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that commercial
air travel last year was the safest year by several parameters.
IATA data showed there were no hull losses or fatal
accidents involving passenger jet aircraft in 2023, but there was a single deadly
turboprop aircraft accident that claimed the lives of 72 people onboard.
In total, there were 37 million aircraft
movements in 2023, including both jet and turboprop flights, an increase of
17 percent from 2022. The all-accident rate was 0.80 per million sectors in
2023—one accident for every 1.26 million flights—an improvement from 1.30 in
2022 and the lowest rate in over a decade.
“2023 safety performance continues to demonstrate that
flying is the safest mode of transport,” IATA Director General Willie Walsh
said. “Aviation places its highest priority on safety and that shows in the
2023 performance.
As for fatality risk, the risk improved to 0.03 in 2023 from
0.11 in 2022, with data showing that a person would have to travel by air every
day for 103,239 years to experience
a fatal accident. IATA member airlines and IATA Operational Safety Audit
(IOSA) registered airlines experienced no fatal accidents in 2023.
In North America, the regional all-accident rate actually rose
from 0.53 per million sectors in 2022 to 1.14 in 2023, but remained better than
its five-year average for the region of 1.21. The largest proportion of
accidents in 2023 were related to landing gear collapses.
“Jet operations saw no hull losses or fatalities. 2023 also
saw the lowest fatality risk and ‘all accident’ rate on record,” Walsh
continued. “A single fatal turboprop accident with 72 fatalities, however,
reminds us that we can never take safety for granted. And two high profile
accidents in the first month of 2024 show that, even if flying is among the
safest activities a person can do, there is always room to improve.”
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