Fatality rates for airline passengers fell to a record low in 2011.
The number of airline accidents declined as well, with no major catastrophes on the air or ground.
According to aerospace advisory firm Ascend, it was a good year for insurers as well. The estimated cost of incurred hull and liability losses in 2011 is not much more than half that recorded in 2010 – the lowest for seven years.
“It’s the safest year ever. Airlines are getting safer – and more quickly than they’re expanding. On average, overall airline operations are now twice as safe as they were 15 years ago,” Paul Hayes, Ascend’s director of safety, said in a statement.
Passenger safety doesn’t always equal lower claims, according to Hayes, although for 2011 this was certainly the case. The cost of incurred airline hull and legal liability losses for 2011 was about $1.18 billion – some $966 million less than in 2010.
“We see the low level of incurred loss in 2011 as very much a mixed blessing. Most insurers will probably have made money this year, but that only begins to make up for a number of bad years they’ve had recently and it is sure to increase the pressure for insurance rate reductions,” Hayes said.
With estimated claims costs exceeding written premium over the last five years and current interest rates limiting investment income, Hayes said there would seem to be little chance that the class as a whole is profitable, especially after the deduction of operating costs.
“Increasing costs, falling premiums and the ever-present risk of a catastrophic loss occurring do not suggest a healthy outlook for airline insurers in 2012, but it is likely that 2011’s good result will increase pressure for further rate reductions in 2012,” Hayes said.
The worst accidents in 2011 were:
1) The Hewa Bora Airways Boeing 727-100 crash on July 8, which killed 79 passengers and four crew (33 passengers and two crew survived) when it undershot on landing at Kisangani, DR Congo.
2) The Iran Air Boeing 727-200Adv on January 9, which apparently stalled during a go-around at Orumiyeh, Iran killing 69 passengers and nine crew out of the 95 passengers and 10 crew on board.
3) The Rusair Tupolev TU134, on June 20, which crashed while attempting to land at Petrozavodsk, Russia, killing 37 passengers and eight crew.
4) The Yak Service Yakovlev YAK42 on September 9, which crashed on take-off from Yaroslavl, Russia killing all 37 passengers and seven of the eight crew.
5) The AirZena Bombardier CRJ 100ER on April 4, which crashed on landing at Kinshasa, DR Congo killing 28 passengers and four crew.
These five accidents account for a total of 250 passenger fatalities, 62 percent of the total number of passenger fatalities on revenue passenger flights during the year.
