The international commercial airline industry’s accident rate declined for the third straight year in 2016 to 1.61 accidents per million sectors flown, according to statistics released Friday by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The average annual accident rate over the previous five years (2011–2015) was 2.25 accidents per million sectors.
The number of fatal accidents and fatalities, however, increased last year from 2015. According to IATA, there were 10 fatal accidents resulting in 268 fatalities in 2016, up from four fatal accidents and 136 fatalities in 2015. The number of fatal accidents last year was still below the annual average for 2011–2015. The average for the five-year period was 13.4 fatal accidents resulting in 371.2 fatalities per year.
“Last year, some 3.8 billion travelers flew safely 40.4 million flights,” according to IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de …
