ICAO Safety Report: 9.8% Decrease in Global Accident Rate in 2021

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently released its 2022 Safety Report, presenting a detailed analysis of global civil aviation safety performance for 2021 operations.

Report results reveal a 9.8 percent decrease in the global accident rate for last year against 2020, dropping from 2.14 to 1.93 per million departures.

Meanwhile 2021 fatalities fell by 66 percent against the number in 2020, though the number of accidents where fatalities occurred remained consistent at four.

“These outcomes are very positive and encouraging, and reconfirm that air transport is the safest mode of transport even during the current global circumstances,” said Juan Carlos Salazar, ICAO’s secretary general.

According to Salazar, scheduled commercial flight departures in 2021 increased by almost 11 percent, but even despite these millions of more flights amidst restart and recovery resource shortages and the many other operational challenges facing airline and airport operators today, air transport’s collective and longstanding commitment to the safety, security and health of passengers and crew remains unwavering.

“The positive safety performance being seen system-wide is recognized in the 2022 Safety Report as being due in part to the pandemic response and recovery recommendations set out by the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) and to the Safety Stream commitments adopted by States at the ICAO High-level Conference on COVID-19 (HLCC) held last October,” added ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano.

The 2022 Safety Report also stresses that in response to existing and emerging trends, ICAO is working in closer partnership today with the whole international aviation community to achieve future safety improvements.

Key emphasis is being placed on improving safety performance and reducing operational safety risk through improved standardization, implementation, and monitoring.

Photo source: UNWTO

The 2022 edition of the ICAO Safety Report provides updates for the ICAO 2020-2022 Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) indicators linked to its ‘Goal 1’, which focuses on achieving a continuous global reduction of operational safety risks and related targets.

ICAO is a United Nations agency which helps 193 countries to cooperate together and share their skies to their mutual benefit.