Global airlines fatality risks down in 5 years

A 2022 Airline Safety Performance Review released by the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) has shown that the fatality risk amongst airlines globally declined to 0.11 from 0.23 in 2021 and 0.13 for the five years, 2018-2022.

IATA added that its member airlines experienced one fatal accident in 2022, with 19 fatalities.

The figures were contained in IATA’s Safety Report for global aviation, which indicated reduction in the number of fatal accidents and the fatality risk, compared to 2021 and to the five year average (2018-2022).

From this year, the Safety Report has been re-invented as an online interactive resource rather than in static PDF format.

IATA in its highlights stated “In 2022, there were five fatal accidents involving loss of life to passengers and crew. This is reduced from seven in 2021 and an improvement on the five year average (2018-2022) which was also seven.

” The fatal accident rate improved to 0.16 per million sectors for 2022, from 0.27 per million sectors in 2021, and also was ahead of the five year fatal accident rate of 0.20″ .

“The all accident rate was 1.21 per million sectors, a reduction compared to the rate of 1.26 accidents for the five years 2018-2022, but an increase compared to 1.13 accidents per million sectors in 2021.”, IATA added.

Commenting, Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General said “Accidents are rare in aviation. There were five fatal accidents among 32.2 million flights in 2022. That tells us that flying is among the safest activities in which a person can engage. But even though the risk of flying is exceptionally low, it is not risk-free. Careful analysis of the trends that are emerging even at these very high levels of safety is what will make flying even safer.

“This year’s report, for example, tells us that we need to make some special efforts on turboprop operations in Africa and Latin America. Safety is aviation’s highest priority, and our goal is to have every flight take off and land.”

The industry 2022 fatality risk of 0.11 means that on average, a person would need to take a flight every day for 25,214 years to experience a 100 per cent fatal accident. This is an improvement over the five-year fatality rate (average of 22,116 years).

Despite the reduction in the number of fatal accidents, the number of fatalities rose from 121 in 2021 to 158 in 2022. The majority of fatalities in 2022 occurred in a single aircraft accident in China that claimed the lives of 132 persons. The airline involved was not an IATA member but is on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry.

The next largest loss of life occurred in an accident to an IATA member in Tanzania that resulted in 19 fatalities. Participation in IOSA is a requirement for IATA membership.

IOSA is the global industry standard for airline operational safety. It is used by numerous authorities in their regulatory safety programs.  Currently 409 operators are on the IOSA Registry, including 107 non-IATA Members.