2007 - unul dintre cei mai siguri ani pentru aviatia civila

PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, 1st January 2008

The Aircraft Crashes Record Office based in Geneva transmits the following:

2007 : excellent year for civil aviation

For ACRO, is considered as an accident all events when an aircraft has been damaged as such as it is not able to be flown again and then is considered as written off. The fact that there are fatalities or not is not taken into consideration

Are taken into account all accidents involving aircraft capable to carry at least 6 passengers plus crew. Are not taken into consideration all accidents involving helicopters, balloons, gliders, fighting aircraft and all others machines who do not match with the criteria's mentioned here above.

In 2007, 136 accidents occurred in the world, 28 less than 2006. This amount is the smallest since 1963! Thus, the total of victims is 25% lower than 2006 and is the lowest since 2004 with 965 fatalities. 2007 is one of the safest years since the last half century. Some small accidents which did not take along any fatality are still under the decision of insurance or operator's leaders.

32% of these accidents occurred in North America, 23% in Asia, 14% in Africa, 10% in South America, 10% in Europe, 9% in Central America and 1% in Oceania.

In 2007 were reported 34 accidents in the United States of America, 10 in Canada, 8 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 5 in Colombia and Indonesia.

Concerning the type of flight, 33 accidents occurred during a scheduled revenue flight, 25 accidents during a cargo flight, 17 accidents during a charter flight (non scheduled revenue flight) and 14 accidents during a positioning flight. Other accidents also occurred during ambulance flight, surveillance, test, government or humanitarian.

Within the 136 lost aircrafts, 100 (74%) were turboprop or piston engine while 36 (26%) were jet type. European consortium Airbus lost 4 models (one A300, two A320 and one A340) while Boeing lost 8 machines (eight 737 model). We recorded also the loss of 12 Antonov, 17 Beechcraft, 6 Canadair, 24 Cessna (19 turboprop and 5 jet), 9 De Havilland Canada, 3 Douglas, 4 Embraer, 2 Learjet, 2 Illiouchine, 6 Let, 2 Lockheed, 3 McDonnell Douglas, 6 Piper, 5 Rockwell, one Tupolev and one Yakovlev.

No major accident occurred in Europe during 2007 which confirm that this continent is one of the safest in the world.

In 2007, 3 accidents caused the death of more than 100 people, 2 accidents between 50 and 100 fatalities, 5 accidents between 20 and 50 fatalities, 5 accidents between 10 and 19 fatalities, 10 accidents between 6 and 10 fatalities, 55 accidents between 1 and 5 fatalities and 56 accidents did not cause any fatality.

With 199 fatalities, the crash of a TAM Brasil's Airbus A320 in Sao Paulo on 17 July was the biggest crash which occurred in 2007. We find afterwards the crash of a Kenya Airways' Boeing 737-800 in Douala on 5 May with 114 fatalities and the crash of an Adamair's Boeing 737-400 off Ujung Pandang on 1st January with 102 fatalities.

More information can be obtained on the website www.baaa-acro.com or directly by phone by the ACRO in Geneva at +41.79.628.91.53 or by email at info@baaa-acro.com.

B.A.A.A./A.C.R.O., January 2008 - Ronan HUBERT, January 2008