LESS AIR TRANSPORT ACCIDENTS LAST YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- Air transport accident rate was down by
36 per cent in 2009 compared with the rate recorded in 2000, as 2.3 billion
people flew safely on 35 million flights, according to the International Air
Transport Association (IATA).

It said that 90 accidents were recorded last year for both western and
eastern built aircraft types, against 109 accidents in 2008.

Out of these, only 18 fatal accidents occured in 2009 compared to 23 fatal
accidents in the previous year, with 685 fatalities compared to 502 fatalities
previously, it said in a statement here Thursday.

IATA's director general, Giovanni Bisignani said safety remained the
association's top priority, even at a time when airlines lost an average of
US$5 billion annually.

"Every fatality is a human tragedy that reminds us of the ultimate goal of
zero accidents and zero fatalities," he said.

He added that IATA member airlines had also outperformed the industry
average with a western-built jet hull accident rate of 0.62 per cent, or one
accident for every 1.6 million flights.

Citing the significant regional differences in the accient rate, Bisignani
said North Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the Commonwealth of
Independent States had zero western-built jet hull losses in 2009.

While North America and Europe performed better than the global average, he
said Asia Pacific's accident rate worsened in 2009 with three accidents
involving carriers from the region.

He said the Middle East and North Africa region also saw its accident rate
up with four accidents involving carriers.

The accidents last year were focused on three areas including challenging
runway excursions which accounted for 26 per cent of all accidents, ground
damage which accounted for 10 per cent of accidents, and pilot
handling which accounted for 30 per cent of accidents.
-- BERNAMA


Attachments:
untitled-[2] 5 k [ text/html ] Download | View
Delete & Prev | Delete & Next