2023 repeats the unlikely success of 2017; no accidents to turbofan-powered commercial passenger aeroplanes

03.01.2024 - 12:38 / traveldailynews.com

Aviation remains a risk-laden industry and as airports around the world report that movements are reaching the same level as in 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis, a number of issues have not gone away.

As the new year dawns and we look back across 2023, civil aviation finds itself in a similar position to 2017 with no fatal accidents to large turbofan powered, passenger aeroplanes in commercial service. Indeed, the number of fatal accidents to large passenger aeroplanes in commercial service is only two. This excludes one accident where a ground handler was killed on being ingested into an aircraft’s engine. There have been a number of incidents and non-fatal accidents that require the industry to remain vigilant. Serious injuries due to turbulence remain an ever-present factor in the year’s accidents.

Some of the staffing issues at airports that were seen immediately post-COVID have been resolved. Regardless of how low the accident rate in 2023 has been, there is no cause for complacency.

Of concern to accident investigators is the attitude of the Russian authorities in response to the accident to the Embraer EMB-135 carrying the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. International law requires States to involve the States of manufacture, among others, in investigations. The exclusion of the Brazilian authorities and Embraer by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) is an unwelcome step that goes against the collaborative nature of accident investigation and does not help with the main reason to investigate accidents; the learning of lessons.

As we mentioned in 2022 the focus on sustainable aviation (new fuels etc.) and concepts such as urban air mobility requires vigilance to ensure that developments in this field do not have an impact on safety. We must ensure that we do not introduce new risks to civil aviation.

As ever, the To70 civil aviation safety review examines accidents only to larger passenger aircraft used by most travellers. (See our criteria in the Note below.) We include all causes, whether technical failure, human error or unlawful interference. In 2023 there were 50 accidents, 2 of which were fatal, resulting in 86 fatalities. Both the number of accidents and fatalities are at a record low. In 2022 there were 33 accidents, 6 of which were fatal, resulting in 178 fatalities. The fatal accident rate for large aeroplane accidents in commercial air transport (including the death of the ground handler) is 0.09 fatal accidents per million flights, compared with 0.10 per million in 2022. This is a rate of less than one fatal accident every fifteen million flights and it is significantly lower than the ten-year average of 0.20 fatal accidents per million flights that we note