Safety First: A statistical analysis of commercial aviation accidents

The safety of our products and the people who fly or operate them is the number one priority for Airbus. Compiling and analysing data on the incidents and accidents which occur contribute to continuously improving the safety of our products, by identifying trends and bringing out links between causes and consequences.

The latest edition of the Statistical Analysis of Commercial Aviation Accidents published annually, provides a rich source of information in this area. Focusing on Western built jets over 40 seats, it firstly highlights that with around 22 million flight departures in 2021, the number of flights  remained 40% lower than in 2019 before the pandemic, when almost 36 million flights were registered.

The analysis also points out that 2021 was a year that reported one of the lowest number of accidents. Five of these were registered, one less than in 2020. “This is a slight improvement when compared to the previous years, which indicates the industry's resilience to maintain a level of safety despite the challenges of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. However, with the number of flights still lower than pre-pandemic levels, it is not possible to say if it shows a sustained improvement of the overall safety performance”, the document reads. 

Increase the resilience of the entire air transport system

The statistics also show that the majority of flights in service are operating the latest and safest fourth generation aircraft. Comparing accident rates by generation of aircraft clearly illustrates the value of the investments made through technology to improve safety.

The document also underlines that the industry has evolved significantly since the earliest days of commercial aviation, continuously improving the level of safety, especially over the past 20 years. This is reflected in how the industry manages security risks and the health on board for everyone flying today. Ensuring all safety, security, quality and sanitary threats are managed with a prevention mindset, applying lessons learnt, which will increase the resilience of the entire air transport system when facing any future crisis or challenges across the air transport system.

“This encouraging evolution of accident statistics illustrates that individual and collective efforts are paying off. It is all about making sure we permanently reinforce our safety culture”,  says Yannick Malinge, Chief Product Safety Officer for Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

For more information on commercial aviation accidents and what the statistics tell us about our continual efforts to improve safety, visit the Accident Statistics website. Download the pdf brochure here.