Another safe year for passenger jets
There were no passenger jet aircraft hull losses or fatal accidents in the world in 2023, but there was a single fatal accident involving a turboprop aircraft.
Africa has had no passenger jet hull losses or fatal accidents since 2020, according to the 2023 aviation safety review issued by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) this week. The all-accident rate on the continent improved from 10.88 per million sectors (in single flights from origin to destination) in 2022 to 6.38 in 2023, better than the five-year average of 7.11. There were no fatal turboprop accidents in Africa in 2023.
On a global level, there were 37-million jet and turboprop aircraft movements in 2023 or 17% more than in the previous year. While there were no hull losses or fatal accidents involving passenger jet aircraft in the world in 2023, there was a single fatal accident involving a turboprop aircraft, a loss-of-control accident in Nepal in January 2023 with 72 fatalities. This single fatal accident in 2023 compared with the five fatal accidents reported in 2022. The five-year average from 2019 to 2023 was also five.
Iata director-general Willie Walsh says 2023’s safety performance shows that flying is the safest transport mode. Iata represents about 320 airlines making up 83% of global air traffic. None of its member airlines and Iata Operational Safety Audit (Iosa) registered airlines had fatal accidents in 2023. Iosa is the global industry standard for airline operational safety. Many authorities use it in their regulatory safety programmes. “Aviation places its highest priority on safety, and that shows in the 2023 performance. Last year also saw the lowest fatality risk and ‘all-accident’ rate on record,” says Walsh.
He cautions, though, that the single fatal turboprop accident is a reminder that the aviation industry can never take safety for granted. “Even if flying is among the safest activities a person can do, there is always room to improve, and we will continue to make flying ever safer.”
Iata’s annual safety report data is collected through its global aviation data management (GADM) programme. Data captured in GADM databases come from more than 470 industry participants. “By analysing data from more than 100,000 flights each day, through GADM, Iata is tackling safety issues before they become problems and continuously improving safety. For example, we identified a significant rise in incidents in Global Navigation Satellite System interference which we are now addressing with the help of key regulators,” says Walsh.
In June 2023, under its Focus Africa initiative, Iata introduced the collaborative aviation safety improvement Programme (Casip) to enhance aviation safety in Africa.
Through Casip, states are being encouraged to increase their implementation of the standards and recommended practices (Sarps) for aviation safety set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao), an agency of the UN. According to Iata, so far only 12 of Africa’s 54 states meet the minimum threshold of implementing no less than 75% of Icao’s Sarps.