“The safety results for 2006 are impressive. Air transport remains the safest form of travel.

But we must do even better. With demand for air travel increasing at 5-6% per year, the accident rate must decrease just to keep the actual number of accidents in check.

The goal will always be zero accidents. And the interim target is to reduce the industry rate to 0.49 accidents per million flights in 2008—a 25% improvement,”

said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

There were 77 accidents in 2006, compared to 111 in 2005. Of these 77 accidents, 46 involved jet aircraft and 31 involved turbo-props.

Not all regions of the world saw the same level of safety. For example, Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had the highest accident rate of all the regions in 2006, with 8.6 Western-built hull losses per million flights—13 times the global average. IATA is actively working with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), States and operators to improve the situation.

Regional Accident Rate