POND ISLAND:--- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for the 2017 safety performance of the commercial airline industry showing continued strong improvements in safety.
Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Cornelius de Weever, is pleased with this news as airline travel to and from destination Sint Maarten is the backbone of the country’s economy.
Approximately 4.1 billion travelers flew safely around the globe on 41.8 million flights.
“Our aviation department and the Princess Juliana International Airport ensures that our aviation sector is up to par with international requirements safety as the common goal in the industry is for every flight to take-off and land safely.
“I take this opportunity to commend all those who play a key role in assuring that this takes place on a daily basis such as our professional air traffic controllers and our meteorologists at the Meteorological Department of Sint Maarten,” Acting Minister of TEATT Cornelius de Weever said on Thursday.
The IATA report says that the all accident rate (measured in accidents per 1 million flights) was 1.08, an improvement over the all accident rate of 1.68 in 2016 and the rate of 2.01 for the previous 5-year period (2012-2016).
The 2017 rate for major jet accidents (measured in jet hull losses per 1 million flights) was 0.11, which was the equivalent of one major accident for every 8.7 million flights. This was an improvement over the rate of 0.39 achieved in 2016 and also better than the five-year rate (2012-2016) of 0.33.
IATA member airlines experienced zero fatal accidents or hull losses in 2017 with jet or turboprop equipment.
http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/28625-minister-of-tourism-de-weever-welcomes-news-about-airline-safety-performance.html
