The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit Program (IOSA), a certification requirement for all IATA member air carriers, continues to be a significant accident-rate differentiator. In 2010, IOSA-certified operators “had an accident rate 53 percent better than non-IOSA carriers,” according to IATA’s Safety Report 2010.1
The gap between IATA’s 230 member carriers — representing 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic — and the industry as a whole in terms of hull-loss accidents widened in 2010, compared with 2009.2 “The [industry] accident rate was 0.61 Western-built jet hull losses per million sectors flown in 2010,” the report says. “IATA member airlines greatly surpassed the industry’s performance in terms of safety, with an accident rate of 0.25 Western-built hull losses per million sectors flown. This was the lowest rate ever recorded by IATA carriers.”
IOSA-certified carriers in 2010 “accompl…
