The European aviation safety record was marred in 2009 by the loss on June 1 of an Airbus A330 over the Atlantic, resulting in 228 fatalities (ASW, 9/10, p. 53). That was the year’s only fatal commercial airplane accident for European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) member states,1 the agency reported in its most recent annual safety review.2,3
The fatal accident rate of scheduled passenger and cargo operations is significantly lower in Europe than in most of the world. According to the review, the EASA member states’ fatal accident rate for the 2000–2009 period was 3.3 per 10 million flights, with the North America and East Asia regions lower, at 2.3 and 2.8 per 10 million flights, respectively. Other regional rates ranged from 4.2 in Australia and New Zealand to 49.1 per 10 million flights in Afric…
