IATA Releases 2017 Global Safety Report

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its safety report for 2017. Accidents are gathered using multiple sources and validated and classified by IATA’s global Accident Classification Technical Group (ACTG).

NZALPA’s Senior Technical Officer, David Reynolds said that one of the most encouraging statistics was the marked improvement in the relative safety of global travel on the previous five year rate.

“The aviation industry has got to be the most safety-conscious sector in the world today. Everyone involved, no matter at what level and at what part of the value chain they work in, needs to have the safety of crew and the travelling public as their top priority.”

In regard to the accidents that did occur, turbo-props operated 20% of sectors flown last year, yet represented 44% of all accidents and 83% of all fatal accidents

Other 2017 safety statistics included:

• Sub-Saharan Africa continued to make strong progress on safety. Airlines in the region had zero jet hull losses and zero fatal accidents involving jets or turboprops for a second consecutive year.
• An estimated 4.1 billion travellers, the equivalent of more than half the world’s population, flew safely on 41.8 million flights in 2017.

“Continuous improvement in safety should see the overall accident rate reduce further but at least these numbers are surely comforting news,” Reynolds said.

For the full report, click here.