Aircraft Safety Improved 50% in 2011

This week we heard in the news that global airline safety rates, covering total crashes and passenger deaths, have improved by nearly 50 per cent this year over the first 11 months of 2010..

Total fatal accidents up to November 30 were 22, causing the deaths of 486 passengers and crew. Last year’s totals were 23 and 786. In 2006, 855 people died in 20 crashes.

All world regions including Africa, long one of the most dangerous for air travel, have this year seen a proportional drop in fatalities and plane losses — with the lone exception of Russia and countries linked to it in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), IATA said.

“As of the end of November, the global safety performance (of the industry) is at the best level recorded, and is 49 percent better than the same time last year,” IATA senior vice-president for safety Gunther Matschnigg told reporters.

One of 2011’s most high-profile Russian air disasters was September’s crash at Yaroslavl, on the Volga north-east of Moscow, which killed 45 passengers, including the 37 members of the local Lokomotiv ice hockey squad.

Matschnigg, speaking at IATA’s annual briefing for journalists covering the industry, said a key problem in Russia was that pilots and ground technicians were having to adapt to a growing number of highly sophisticated aircraft.

The IATA safety chief credited the seven-year-old programme, which provides for thorough and regular checks on all aspects of flight security and aircraft maintenance as well as training of personnel, for the major improvement in Africa.

We know that the dire financial condition of the present have had an effect on almost every industry imaginable, business aviation being no exception.

Business Jet Production Slowed By World Economic Crisis

One tell-tale sign was reported by Flight Global this week. Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) is planning to slow the development of its light business jet, Hawker 200, a six seat aircraft.

With the crisis having lasted now for 4 years this is the second occasion that HBC has been forced to stop development of this low end jet, launched in 2008.

Another of HBC’s light jet stable – the Hawker 400XP – became a casualty of the financial crisis in 2010. Hit by poor sales and low demand, production of the six-seat aircraft was suspended.

HBC have also suspended production of another of their light jets, and whilst they have affirmed that both will be brought back into production once the economy is in a better state, most industry experts expect no improvement in the light jet market for the next 18 months.

But the impact is not only on the order books of manufacturers, used business jet sales are at an all-time low.

All we can do now is wait it out, and hope that new opportunities enter the market soon.

UK & Ireland airlines have asked UK ministers to halt the rise in APD. The rates, which apply to all flights originating from the UK and was introduced in 1994, were originally between £5 and £40, but now equate to an extra £17 – £120 per ticket.

Determined by destination, searing class and other factors the hike in prices could adversely affect the market in the UK – further making it an unattractive location for airlines.

An official from the Treasury told reporters that the APD had been frozen in 2011 and added that the UK did not charge VAT on air tickets, unlike many other countries.

However environmental groups continue to defend the APD, citing that its revenues go toward fighting climate change. Richard Dyer from Friends of the Earth said that ministers must now stand firm in the face of ‘unfair lobbying’ from the airline industry