The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Tuesday released its 'Airline Safety Performance 2022' report. In nearly all respects, last year had been safer for airline operations than the year before (2021) as well as better than the average for the five-year period 2018-2022. (The IATA statistics excluded accidents involving executive aircraft, aircraft not powered by turbine engines, and aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of less than 5 700 kg.)

In absolute numbers, there were five fatal accidents last year, one involving a jet and the other four involving turboprop aircraft. In 2021, there had been seven fatal accidents, involving one jet and six turboprops. The five-year average was also seven fatal accidents, but composed of three jets and four turboprops. The 2022 accidents claimed 158 lives, 132 being killed in a single crash, which was an increase over the 121 fatalities recorded in 2021, but well below the 2018-2022 average figure of 231 deaths. Airlines flew 32.2-million flights last year, up from 25.7-million in 2021, but still below the 34.4-million five-year average figure. Of the 2022 fatal accidents, only one involved an IATA member, resulting in the loss of 19 lives.

“[F]lying is among the safest activities in which a person can engage,” highlighted IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “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 safely regardless of region or aircraft type.”

In terms of global accident rates, the fatal accident rate last year was 0.16 per million sectors, as against 0.27 per million sectors in 2021 and 0.20 per million sectors for the five years 2018-2022. The total accident rate in 2022 was 1.21 per million flights (or one accident every 830 000 flights), up from 1.13 per million flights in 2021 (or one accident every 890 000 flights) but better than the 2018-2022 figure of 1.26 per million flights (or one accident every 810 000 flights). For aircrew and passengers last year the total fatality risk was 0.11, but the fatality risk on IATA airlines was 0.02. The total fatality risk in 2021 had been 0.23 and for IATA carriers, zero. The total five-year average figure had been 0.13, but for IATA operators it had been 0.05. (IATA explained that a fatality risk of 0.11 meant that, on average, someone would need to take a flight every day for 25 214 years in order to experience a 100% fatal accident.)

Regarding regions, Africa suffered no jet hull losses last year, just as it experienced no jet hull losses in 2021; its average jet hull loss rate for 2018-2022 was 0.28. But the continent suffered a turboprop hull loss rate last year of 7.05, the worst in the world. The equivalent figure for 2021 was 5.59 and for 2018-2022, 4.09. The region with the worst jet hull loss rate in 2022 was the Commonwealth of Independent States, at 1.18, as against zero in 2021 and an average 0.98 for 2018-2022. This region saw no turboprop hull losses last year, but recorded a rate of 42.53 in 2021 and a 13.30 average during 2018-2022. The region that had the second worst hull loss rates, for both jets and turboprops, was Latin America and the Caribbean, with, last year, a jet hull loss rate of 0.95 and a turboprop hull loss rate of 5.64. The respective figures for 2021 had been zero and again zero, while the averages for 2018-2022 had been 0.34 and 1.86.

“Both sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America saw increases in turboprop accidents last year,” noted Walsh. “Introduction and adherence to global standards (including [the IATA Operational Safety Audit]) are key to reversing this trend. The priority for Africa continues to be implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO’s) safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPS).”

At the end of last year, 61% of African countries (in numbers: 28) had an ICAO SARPS effective implementation rate of 60% or more. But that represented no advance on the situation at the end of 2021. More attention was being given to the most important elements of SARPS. “Building a data-rich environment across Africa is also essential to delivering regional improvements such as IATA’s Global Aviation Data Management programme,” he stated.