The safest year ever for taking a scheduled flight

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Our latest annual Safety Report shows that 2016 was the safest EVER year for scheduled commercial air travel.

This is a key accomplishment as the safety of operations is the cornerstone of the vitality of the air transport industry, a sector that plays a crucial role in sustainable global socio-economic development.

ICAO was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. By promulgating Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) that facilitate harmonized regulations in aviation safety, security, efficiency and environmental protection, ICAO is the primary forum for co-operation in all fields of civil aviation among 191 Member States.

 

Improving the safety of the global air transport system is therefore ICAO’s guiding, and most fundamental, strategic objective. We are continuously working to address and enhance global aviation safety through the coordinated activities and targets that are outlined in our Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP).

GASP initiatives aremonitored by ICAO’s appraisal of global and regional aviation safety metrics on the basis of established risk management principles – a core component of contemporary State Safety Programmes (SSP) and Safety Management Systems (SMS). Within our coordinated safety activities, ICAO strives to achieve a balance between assessed risk and the requirements of practical, achievable and effective risk mitigation strategies.

The publication of the annual Safety Report provides updates on safety indicators which include accidents that occurred in 2016 (numbers that were down from those reported in 2015). Results of analysis from the 2012-2016 reports are used as benchmarks for comparison.

You can download our 2017 Safety Report here.