Dépêches

Airline Safety Stalls Again in 2010

Dépèche transmise le 18 janvier 2011 par PRNewswire

LONDON, January 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Global airline accident rates have not fallen for eight years, with a widening gap between carriers with the best and worst safety records.

This is the finding of Flight International's latest annual safety review, which tracks the incidence of airliner accidents around the world and their causes.

It has sparked worries that some airlines and authorities are failing to learn the lessons of previous incidents and implement a proactive safety culture among their pilots and managers.

The survey found that in 2010, there were 26 fatal crashes, causing 817 deaths. This compares with 28 accidents and 749 deaths in 2009.

Flying remains one of the safest ways to travel. From 1903, when the Wright brothers invented powered flight, safety improved significantly every decade for exactly 100 years. But since 2003, that improvement has stopped - and the difference between the best and worst performers appears to be getting bigger.

Flight International's special report - published in its 18-24 January issue and available online at - details advances made by the International Air Transport Association's member airlines in 2010. Their hull-loss accident rate dropped to an all-time low of 0.28 hull losses per million flights, but the world average nonetheless remained fairly static at 0.66.

Alongside the full report at , there is a video interview with its author David Learmount, Flightglobal's operations and safety editor.

CONTACT: Learmount is available for media interviews on +44(0)20-8652-3845and will be participating in a webchat on Wednesday 19 January at 14:00 UKtime (see http://www.flightglobal.com for details).