'South Africa’s commercial airlines sector has zero fatal accident rate for four decades'
Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa's Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga says the country's commercial airlines sector has maintained a zero fatal accident rate for four decades.
Briefing the media on the state of the aviation industry on Tuesday, she said 97 small aircraft accidents have been recorded in the current financial year and this is projected to be marginally lower than the previous period.
However, the number of fatalities has increased to 13, which is four more than reported in the 2022/2023 financial year.
To curb these accidents which happen in a non-scheduled flying space, the South African Civil Aviation Authority has developed several safety strategies to curb aviation accidents and fatalities, she said.
At the end of the previous 2022/23 financial year, the number of accidents had decreased from 147 to 113 accidents, which translated into a 23% decrease from the 2021/2022 period. The fatal accidents decreased from 12 to nine, translating into a 25% decrease.
The Minister noted that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rated South Africa’s safety oversight system at 91.11%, placing the country first in Africa and 18 in the world, alongside Norway.
In addition, the US-Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognised South Africa's safety oversight system as meeting ICAO’s safety standards and recommended practices and therefore confirmed that South Africa retains its Category 1 status with the standards of the United States International Oversight Safety Audit Programme.
-0- PANA CU/MA 6March2024
