IATA: 2018 accident rate a slight increase of 2017, but trend shows continuing improvement

IATA released (21-Feb-2019) its commercial airline industry safety performance data the 2018. The association reported the industry is showing continuing safety improvements over the long term, although there was an increase in accidents compared to 2017. Key highlights includes:

• All accident rate of 1.35 per million flights. This was an improvement over the all accident rate of 1.79 for the previous five year period (2013-2017), but a decline compared to 2017's record performance of 1.11;
• 2018 rate for major jet accidents (jet hull losses per one million flights) was 0.19. This was an improvement over the rate for the previous five year period of 0.29 but not as good as the rate of 0.12 in 2017;
• 2018 turboprop hull loss rate was 0.60 per million flights, which was an improvement over 1.23 in 2017 and also over the 5-year rate (2013-2017) of 1.83. All regions except for Middle East and North Africa saw their turboprop safety performance improve in 2018 when compared to their respective five year rates. Accidents involving turboprop aircraft represented 24% of all accidents in 2018 and 45% of fatal accidents;
• There were 11 fatal accidents with 523 fatalities among passengers and crew in 2018. This compares with an average of 8.8 fatal accidents and approximately 234 fatalities per year in the previous five year period (2013-2017). In 2017, the industry experienced six fatal accidents with 19 fatalities, which was a record low. One accident in 2017 also resulted in the deaths of 35 persons on the ground. [more - original PR]