Aviation - 2006 second safest year on record
London, 3rd January 2007
Return to improving safety, but passenger fatalities high
It was a return to safety for the aviation industry in 2006. With 13 fatal aviation accidents worldwide over the 12 months, last year was the joint second safest on record and well below the long-term trend.
Predictions based on historical data suggested the number of such accidents in 2006 could have been as much as 50% higher. But, after an accident spike in 2005, last year’s figures are more in line with previous years. There were 13 fatal accidents in 2003, and in 2004, the safest year ever, just 11.
The findings in the Annual Aviation Safety Report from Ascend, the world’s leading provider of information and consultancy to the global aerospace industry, measure accidents on revenue passenger flights.
Fatalities up
However, the industry’s 2006 safety report card makes for mixed reading as the number of passenger deaths was relatively high. In 2006, 790 passengers perished, compared to 347 in 2004 and 578 in 2003. The worst accident in 2006 was the Pulkovo Aviation Tupolev TU154 crash in August near Donetsk, Ukraine, which killed all 160 passengers and 10 crew on board. Including this accident, there were four accidents during the year where more than 100 people were killed, together resulting in 533 passenger fatalities, nearly 70% of the total for the year.
“Given the 34 million flights worldwide in 2006 and aviation’s rapid expansion, particularly in China and India, our data shows just how seriously the entire industry takes its responsibilities,” commented Gehan Talwatte, Managing Director, Ascend. “Safety is paramount. With new types of aircraft in the pipeline, not least the A380 and the 787, and continued growth putting further pressure on infrastructure, particularly in emerging markets, the challenge for the all of us in the industry is clear. The picture’s improving, but the work is far from complete.”
The long-term trend for the aviation industry is to fewer fatal accidents. In the late 1940s the figure was around 40-50 a year. By the 1980s this figure had halved. In the two decades up to 2001 as the industry expanded this improvement in the number of fatal accidents stalled. However, this has been reversed over the last few years as the industry’s growth has continued, with 2006 part of this downward trend.
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