Hofmann's recommendations

Review of the year - Flying is safe in 2015 too

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Of course, there were once again a number of tragic events involving aircraft this year, with fatalities. Probably one of the most extraordinary incidents was the crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 in the French Alps. Incidentally, this crash will not appear in the accident statistics. Due to the suicide of the co-pilot, this deliberately caused accident is treated as a multiple homicide.

The same goes for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine in 2014, which was an act of war. And the crash of a MetroJet Airbus A321 over Sinai is likely to have fallen victim to a similar scenario. The final results are not pending. In the first six months of 2015, there were a total of ten total losses of aircraft, with a total of 45 fatalities.

But: 100,000 commercial aircraft take off and land every day, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced last week at its headquarters in Geneva. Approximately one million people travel by plane every day, and they also transport 150,000 tons of air freight on a total of 54,000 routes. IATA has 260 airline members, which handle around 83 percent of global air traffic.

This once again demonstrates the economic importance of aviation. Around nine million people are employed by IATA member airlines, and a further 50 million indirectly. Incidentally, a third of all merchandise worldwide - measured by value - is transported by air freight. However, IATA and airlines are not only concerned with the safety of their aircraft, but also with security against terrorism, drones and other scenarios.

Yes, the attacks in Paris, for example, have had an impact on the capacity utilization of airlines that frequently fly to France. Of course, there will also be challenges like this in 2016. But this does not only affect civil aviation. Nevertheless, flying remains the safest means of transportation today. More and more modern, environmentally friendly aircraft are coming onto the market and making flying even more reliable. As a result, we can already venture a forecast for next year and make the following recommendation: Yes, flying is safe in 2016 too.