Etihad, unrated in 2021, pushed Emirates into second place. Both companies have relatively young fleets, according to a report published in the aviation magazine “Aero International” (February issue).
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Russian airline Aeroflot was significantly devalued and landed only in 25th place. Security-related reasons for the devaluation included the illegal admission of western leased jets to the Russian registry and the interruption in the supply of spare parts to Russia due to economic sanctions.
The Jacdec Risk Index is based on each airline’s accident history over the last 30 years, the specific environment of the country in which it operates, and the airline’s specific risk factors. Theoretically, an index value of 100 is achievable, but even the best companies fall short. The number of passenger-kilometers flown by airlines is important: the more an airline covers without accidents, the lower the risk and therefore the safer it will be in this ranking.
Among Europe’s busiest operators, Finnair achieved the highest index value, followed by KLM and Transavia. Lufthansa’s flagship was 15th in this traffic region. Basically, in the year of the restart after the Corona break in civil air traffic, an extremely high level of safety was achieved again, said head of analysis Jan-Arwed Richter. Thus, individual events had a particularly strong influence on the statistics.
The crash of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 on March 21 near the southern Chinese city of Wuzhou was considered the worst accident of the year. All 132 people on board died. The crash is believed to have been due to the co-pilot’s suicide. Jacdec relies on inside information, while Chinese investigative authorities have so far kept a low profile.
In all, Jacdec recorded 19 fatal air accidents last year, in which 233 people lost their lives. There were 60 more deaths than in 2021, when significantly fewer flew. The average of the last ten years is 372 deaths.
According to the airline association IATA, commercial air traffic worldwide only reached almost 71% of passenger volume compared to the pre-Corona year of 2019. For 2023, the organization expects a recovery with a good 85% of 2019 volume.