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2017 has been an exceptional year for global airline safety, with fewer fatalities than at any time in the industry’s history. Closer to home, we can see that in all aviation domains across the EASA Member States, the number of fatal accidents in 2017 has been lower than the average of the previous decade.
However, a regulator never rests on its laurels to ensure that this trend continues as the aviation system develops to face new challenges such as drones and cyber security risks. Indeed, by the end of January this year, the histor- ically low figures for global airline safety for the whole of 2017 had already been exceeded. In the EASA Member States in 2017, there were fatalities in all non-commercial and specialised operation domains, as well as a fatal accident involving a medical flight that crashed in Italy with the loss of all 6 people on board.
Such accidents demonstrate the need to continuously drive safety improvements across the board, to share les- sons learned. This is achieved through the safety actions that are identified in the European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS). In partnership with our Member States we are developing a better view of safety and defining a collective response. Additionally, EASA coordinates beyond Europe at a global level in order to help protect our citizens when they travel beyond our borders.
The Annual Safety Review will continue to evolve and with the launch of the Data4Safety, big-data programme, EASA is significantly enhancing the ability of the European Aviation System to be aware of potential safety risks. With this, we can react more quickly and help people to travel in the safest conditions.
(EASA) Patrick Ky Executive Director
