This page provides an overview of the annual analysis of aviation accidents provided by Airbus. 

Scope

The analysis covers occurrences matching the following criteria:

• Western-built commercial air transport jets that carry over 40 passengers (including cargo aircraft)

Note: Non-Western-built jets (with the exception of Sukhoi Superjet) are excluded due to lack of information, and business jets are not considered due to their particular operating environment.

• Since 1958 (the first year with regularly scheduled transatlantic flights using commercial jet aircraft)
• Revenue flights
• Operational accidents
• Hull loss and fatal types of accident

Data is extracted from official accident reports, as well as ICAO, Cirium, and Airbus databases. Flight cycle data is revised on an annual basis as further information becomes available from operators.

Definitions

• Revenue flight: A flight involving the transport of passengers, cargo or mail. Non revenue flights such as training, ferry, positioning, demonstration, maintenance, acceptance and test flights are excluded.
• Operational accident: An accident taking place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until the time all such persons have disembarked, excluding sabotage, military actions, terrorism, suicide and the like. This does not include any accident that is unclassified or unknown until the official investigation determines otherwise.
• Fatal accident: An operational accident in which at least one person is fatally or seriously injured as a result of:
  • being in the aircraft, or
  • direct contact with any part of the aircraft, including parts which have become detached from the aircraft, or
  • direct exposure to jet blast.

Note: This definition excludes the injuries that are from natural causes, self-inflicted or inflicted by other persons, or when the injuries are to stowaways hiding on the aircraft outside the areas normally accessible by the passengers and crews.

• Hull loss: An event in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. The threshold of economic repair decreases with the residual value of the aircraft. Therefore, as an aircraft ages, an event leading to damage that was economically repairable years before may be considered a hull loss.

1958-2023 Analysis

Related Articles

• Aviation Safety Performance Reports and Statistics
• Annual Safety Review - EASA
• Boeing Annual Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents

Further Reading

• Airbus: A Statistical Analysis of Commercial Aircraft Accidents, external link