ISLAMABAD: The number of passengers travelling by air increased 31 per cent to 4.2 billion in 2023, according to a report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The number was over 3.2bn passengers in 2022 but slightly below the pre-pandemic levels of 4.5bn passengers in 2019.

In its ‘2024 Safety Report’ released this week, the global aviation body said 2023 was the safest of the past five years in terms of safety indicators such as global accident rate, number of fatal accidents, total fatalities and fatality rate.

The number of commercial flight departures also increased by 13pc to over 35m in 2023, compared to around 31m in 2022.

ICAO report finds 2023 ‘safest of the past five years’ in terms of accident rate, number of fatal accidents and total fatalities

Last year’s statistics show that the number of accidents increased slightly from the preceding year, but their rate registered a decrease.

From 2022 to 2023, there was a 3.1 per cent increase in the total number of accidents. At the same time, the number of flight departures also increased by around 13pc during the same period.

The global accident rate of 1.87 accidents per million departures in 2023 decreased by 17.9pc from 2.05 accidents per million departures in 2022.

In 2023, accidents to commercial airlines resulted in 72 fatalities, representing a more than 50pc decrease from 160 in 2022, as well as a decrease in fatality rate of 17 people per billion passengers from 50 per billion in 2022.

The number of fatal accidents significantly decreased from seven in 2022 to one in 2023.

In 2023, there was only one fatal accident that occurred in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for all 72 (100pc) fatalities.

The accident took place in Nepal when an ATR 72, a twin-engine aircraft, operated by privately owned Yeti Airlines, crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhara on January 15.

There were 72 people on the aircraft including two infants, four crew and 15 foreign nationals. There were no survivors.

Between 2019 and 2023, the annual number of accidents has gradually decreased. The highest count recorded was in 2019, with 114 accidents.

The number of mishaps significantly decreased in the succeeding two years — 2020 and 2021 — however, it is worth noting that during this time there was a significant reduction in global air traffic due to the Covid-19 restrictions. In 2022, as the pandemic restrictions were lifted, air transport began recovering.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024