The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released a slew of data outlining strong gains in 2013 commercial aviation safety performance. Over the five years 2009-2013, the industry has shown improvement in both accident rates and fatalities, although year-to-year comparisons may fluctuate.

• There were 210 fatalities from commercial aviation accidents in 2013, reduced from 414 in 2012.
• The 2013 global Western-built jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jets was 0.41, the equivalent of one accident for every 2.4 million flights. This was a step back from 2012 when the global Western-built jet accident rate stood at 0.21 — the lowest in aviation history. Looked at over the five-year period (2009-2013), 2013 shows a 14.6 percent improvement on the five-year average of 0.48. 
• The 2013 Western-built jet hull loss rate for members of IATA was 0.30, which outperformed the global average by 26.8 percent and which showed an improvement over the five-year average of 0.32. 

“Safety is our highest priority. The aviation industry is united in its commitment to ensure continuous safety improvement. Importantly, that commitment has made flying ever safer. Accidents, however rare, do happen. We release this data as the world continues to focus on the search effort for MH370. The airline industry, its stakeholders and regulators are in the beginning of the journey to unravel this mystery, understand the cause and find ways to ensure that it never happens again,” said Tony Tyler, IATA Director General and CEO.

2013 Safety by the numbers:

• More than 3 billion people flew safely on 36.4 million flights (29.5 million by jet, 6.9 million by turboprop)
• 81 accidents (all aircraft types, Eastern and Western built), up from 75 in 2012, but below the five-year average of 86 per year
• 16 fatal accidents (all aircraft types) versus 15 in 2012 and the five-year average of 19
• 20 percent of all accidents were fatal, unchanged from 2012 and below the five-year average of 22 percent
• 12 hull loss accidents involving Western-built jets compared to six in 2012 and the five-year average of 13
• Six fatal hull loss accidents involving Western-built jets, raised from three in 2012, unchanged from the five-year average
• 210 fatalities compared to 414 in 2012 and the five-year average of 517

Additionally, IATA announced global passenger traffic results for February showing demand growth of 5.4 percent compared to February 2013. Although this represented a slowdown compared to the January traffic increase of 8.2 percent, cumulative traffic growth for the first two months of 2014 was 6.9 percent, which compares favorably with the 5.2 percent overall growth achieved in 2013.

February capacity rose 5.2 percent and load factor climbed 0.2 percentage points to 78.1 percent. All regions except Africa experienced positive traffic growth.

“People are flying. Strong demand is consistent with the pick-up in global economic growth, particularly in advanced economies.” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

International Passenger Markets

February international passenger traffic rose 5.5 percent compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 5.8 percent and load factor slipped 0.2 percentage points to 76.8 percent. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand.

• European carriers’ international traffic climbed 5.8 percent in February compared to the year-ago period, the strongest growth among the three largest regions. Capacity rose 5.7 percent and load factor was stable at 77.4 percent. Growth in the manufacturing and services sectors has now reached rates not seen since the first half of 2013, according to JPMorgan/Markit’s surveys of purchasing managers, and growth is also occurring in major economies like France.
• Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 4.0 percent compared to February 2013. While this was down compared to January traffic growth (8.3 percent), in part this was owing to the timing of the Lunar New Year, which took place in January, a month earlier than in 2013. With capacity up 5.1 percent over February 2013, load factor slipped 0.8 percentage points to 76.8 percent. While regional economic activity is robust and trade volumes continue to accelerate, business activity has declined for the third month running in China, according to data from JPMorgan/Markit.
• North American airlines saw demand rise 2.0 percent in February over a year ago, a slowdown on the January growth rate (3.7 percent). The demand backdrop in the region is showing signs of improvement, signaling that air travel should continue to expand in coming months. Capacity rose 2.6 percent, pushing down load factor half a percentage point to 75.9 percent.
• Middle East carriers had the strongest year-over-year traffic growth in February at 13.4 percent as airlines continue to benefit from the strength of regional economies and solid growth in business-related premium travel. The Gulf nations in particular are enjoying acceleration in non-oil sectors of their economies, further supporting strong demand for air travel. Capacity rose 12.5 percent and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage points to 78.9 percent.
• Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 4.2 percent, only slightly behind January growth (4.6 percent) and the outlook is broadly positive with continued robust performance of economies like Colombia, Peru and Chile, and the upcoming demand to be generated by the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Capacity rose 2.1 percent and load factor climbed 1.6 percentage points to 79.0 percent, the highest for any region.
• African airlines experienced the slowest demand growth, up 0.1 percent compared to February 2013. With capacity up 4.1 percent, load factor fell 2.6 percentage points to 63.7 percent, by far the lowest among the regions. The weakness over recent months in part could reflect adverse economic developments in some parts of the continent, with the slowdown in the major economy of South Africa, as well as growing competition from airlines based outside the region.