IATA: Air Travel Safer in 2022
Air travel became safer in 2022 marking a reduction in the number of fatal accidents and in the fatality risk compared to 2021 and to the five-year average for the 2018-2022 period, said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this week.
However, according to IATA’s 2022 safety report for global aviation, 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.
Overall in 2022, there were five fatal airline accidents which led to the deaths of passengers and crew. This figure, IATA said, is reduced from seven in 2021 and an improvement on the five-year average for the 2018-2022 period.
The report goes on to add that the fatal accident rate improved to 0.16 per million sectors for 2022 from 0.27 per million sectors in 2021 and was also 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.
The fatality risk dropped to 0.11 from 0.23 in 2021 and 0.13 for the five-year period under review.
“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,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh.
Walsh went on to add that careful analysis of emerging trends will ensure that flying becomes even safer.
Citing the 2022 report, Walsh said more efforts need to be made 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,” he added.
According to the airline industry fatality risk, in 2022 on average, a person would need to take a flight every day for 25,214 years to experience a 100 percent fatal accident. This, IATA said, is an improvement over the five-year fatality rate.