Despite tragedies, 2014 good year for aviation safety: IATA
Thailand's most updated English news website, newspaper english, breaking news : The Nation
THE LOSS of Malaysia Airlines Flights 370 and 17 were tragic events in aviation last year, but the global jet-accident rate was 0.23 hull loss per million flights, the lowest in history, according to the International Air Transport Association.
“Any accident is one too many and safety is always aviation’s top priority. While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014, the data show that flying continues to improve its safety performance,” Tony Tyler, chief executive of IATA, said yesterday.
The 2014 rate was the equivalent of one accident for every 4.4 million flights and was an improvement over 2013’s rate of 0.41, or one accident every 2.4 million flights, and the five-year (2009-13) average of 0.58.
There were 12 fatal accidents involving all aircraft types in 2014 with 641 fatalities, compared with an average of 19 fatal accidents and 517 fatalities per year in the five-year period.
The 2014 loss rate for members of IATA was 0.12, or one accident for every 8.3 million flights, which outperformed the global average by 48 per cent and showed significant improvement over the five-year rate of 0.33.
Two extraordinary and tragic events
More than 3.3 billion people flew safely on 38.0 million flights – 30.6 million by jet and 7.4 million by turboprop. There were 73 accidents for all aircraft types, down from 81 in 2013 and the five-year average of 86 per year.
The year 2014 will be remembered for the two extraordinary and tragic events suffered by Malaysia Airlines. Although the reasons for the disappearance and loss of MH370, apparently somewhere in the Indian Ocean, are unknown, it is classified as a fatal accident.
The aviation industry has welcomed the proposal by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to move towards the adoption of a performance-based standard for global tracking of commercial aircraft, supported by multinational operational assessments to evaluate impact and guide implementation.
The destruction of MH17 by anti-aircraft weaponry, however, is not included as an accident under globally recognised accident-classification criteria. The four aircraft involved in the events of September 11, 2001, in the United States were treated in the same way.
“The shooting down of MH17 took with it 298 lives in an act of aggression that is by any measure unacceptable,” Tyler said.
“Governments and industry have come together to find ways to reduce the risk of overflying conflict zones. This includes better sharing of critical information about security risks to civil aviation.
Find an international mechanism
“And we are calling on governments to find an international mechanism to regulate the design, manufacture and deployment of weapons with antiaircraft capabilities.
“To the flying public, an air tragedy is an air tragedy, regardless of how it is classified. In 2014 we saw a reduction in the number of fatal accidents – and that would be true even if we were to include MH17 in the total.
“The greatest tribute that we can pay to those who lost their lives in aviation-related tragedies is to continue our dedication to make flying ever safer. And that is exactly what we are doing,” he said.
IATA has launched a six-point safety strategy to identify organisational, operational and emerging safety issues.
The six points include reducing operating risk, enhancing quality and compliance through audit programmes, advocating for improved aviation infrastructure such as implementation of performance-based navigation approaches and supporting consistent implementation of safety management systems.
The others are supporting effective recruitment and training to enhance quality and compliance through programmes such as the IATA Quality and Training Initiative and the ICAO’s Multi-crew Pilot Licence and identifying and addressing emerging safety issues, such as those concerned with lithium batteries.
