The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has reported that airline safety last year improved again, both in relation to 2018 and to the five-year average for 2014 to 2018. This improvement was across all major safety performance indicators.

“The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is aviation’s highest priority,” emphasised Iata director-general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac. “Based on the 2019 fatality risk, on average, a passenger could take a flight every day for 535 years before experiencing an accident with one fatality on board. But we know that one accident is one too many. Every fatality is a tragedy and it is vital that we learn the correct lessons to make aviation even safer.”

The accident rate last year was 1.13, meaning there was one accident for every 884 000 flights. In 2018, the accident rate was 1.36 (or one accident for every 733 000 flights), while the average rate for the five years from 2014 to 2018 was 1.56, meaning one accident for every 640 000 flights. The fatality risk was 0.09 in 2019, compared with 0.17 in 2018; the average for the 2014 to 2018 period was also 0.17.

In terms of numbers, 2019 saw 53 accidents, of which eight were fatal, killing 240 people. Four of the fatal accidents involved jets and four involved turboprops. In 2018 there were 62 accidents, 11 being fatal, killing 523 people. For the period 2014 to 2018, the yearly average was 63.2 accidents, of which 8.2 were fatal, killing 303.4 people.

Last year saw 0.15 jet hull losses per million departures (or, in other words, one major accident for every 6.6-million flights). The figure for 2018 was 0.18 (or one major accident for every 5.5-million flights) while the average figure for the five years 2014 to 2018 was 0.24 (or one major accident for every 4.1-million flights).

Concerning turboprop aircraft, hull losses per million flights last year came to 0.69, or one hull loss for every 1.45-million flights, while the figure for 2018 was 0.70, or one major accident for every 1.42-million flights (these are the figures given by Iata; they may have been erroneously transposed). And for the period 2014 to 2015, the average yearly figure was 1.40, or one hull loss for every 714 000 flights.

Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa did not experience a single jet hull loss last year. Unfortunately, Africa’s jet hull loss rate in 2019 – 1.39 – was higher that its five-year average figure for 2014 to 2018 of 1.01. On the other hand, Africa’s turboprop hull loss rate last year was significantly down in comparison to the average for the preceding five years. The 2019 figure was 1.29 while the average for the years 2014 to 2018 was 5.20.

North Asia also registered a higher jet hull loss rate last year (0.15) than during the previous five years (zero). But, as with Africa, its turboprop hull loss rate fell sharply, to zero (2019) from 5.99 (the yearly average during 2014 to 2018). The Commonwealth of Independent States (most of the countries which once comprised the Soviet Union) also saw a rise in jet hull loss rates, to 2.21 last year from the annual average of 1.08 during the preceding five years. Yet again, the turboprop hull loss rate was down, but this time only slightly, to 15.79 from 16.85.

Regarding North America, the jet hull loss rate in 2019 was 0.09, down from the yearly average of 0.16 during 2014 to 2018. The figures for turboprop hull loss rates were zero and 0.67 respectively.

Airlines subject to the Iata Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) recorded much lower accident rates than those not subject to it. The 2019 accident rate for IOSA-registered airlines was 0.92, compared with 1.63 for non-IOSA- registered airlines. Iata is the international representative body of the airline industry and all Iata members must be IOSA-registered. No fewer than 139 non-Iata member airlines are also IOSA-registered.