In flight medical emergencies increase :: 23/02/2009 :: Airport Parking News
In 2008 there were more than 500 fatalities in air crashes on Western-built aircraft.
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In flight medical emergencies increase
Monday, 23rd February 2009
Airline safety lapses are cited as the cause of nearly one-third of the accidents, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In 2007, 692 people died as the result of air crashes, so the 2008 showed a decrease, although the number of crashes showed a slight increase.
The industry-wide accident rate for 2008, which is a measure of lost hulls per million flights, was 0.81 – or the equivalent of one accident for every 1.2 million flights. This was up from the 0.75 rate reported in 2007.
Incidents referred to as "runway excursions", which involve an aircraft leaving the runway on landing or take-off, accounted for around 25 per cent of all accidents in 2008, and in an additional 17 per cent, ground damage was reported, according to the IATA report.
On the ground, 2008 saw $4 billion in damages to aircraft and equipment, the IATA added.
Deficient airline safety management was cited as the cause of 30 per cent of the accidents, according to the Geneva-based airline associated which has 230 member carriers – such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific and United Airlines.
The worse rate, 6.43, was reported by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but given the small number of Western-built aircraft represented in fleets in the region, the numbers are significantly skewed, according to the IATA.
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