In 2022, a total of 147 people died in aviation accidents in the territory of the European Union involving aircraft registered in the the EU, recent data from Eurostat reveal.
According to Eurostat, similar to the previous years, the majority of air accident fatalities that took place in 2022 involved aircraft with a maximum take-off mass of less than 2,250 kilograms in the “general aviation” category.
This subcategory includes small aeroplanes, para and motor gliders, dirigibles, microlights, hot air balloons, and small helicopters, and it accounted for 83 per cent or 112 deaths last year.
The commercial air transport registered the second-highest number of fatalities in 2022. According to Eurostat, commercial air transport accounted for 12 per cent of the total deaths (17).
“In the period 2012-2022, no major accidents were recorded in commercial air transport in the EU involving EU-registered aircraft. The exception was the year 2015 when 150 fatalities were recorded in the crash of a German aircraft in the French Alps,” the statement of Eurostat reads.
The commercial air transport category is followed by aerial work, with five deaths or five per cent of the total, and general aviation, which recorded only one death last year.
Eurostat has also disclosed data on aviation accidents involving EU-registered aircraft over the period 2018-2022.
In the period 2018-2022, 783 fatalities were registered in air transport accidents that occurred in the territory of the EU.
Of the total, 49 people died in commercial air transport accidents, 49 died in aerial work accidents, and 685 died in general aviation accidents.
“As small aircraft are involved, accidents involving aircraft with an MTOM below 2250 kg often occur in the country in which the aircraft is registered. However, in the other aviation categories, differences between the country of registration of the aircraft and the country of occurrence of the accident can be higher,” Eurostat added.
Additionally, it was disclosed that in the period 2018-2022, no fatality was recorded in only three countries – Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Malta. During the same period, there were less than ten fatalities in eight other EU Member States.
The number of fatalities was somewhere between ten and 50 in ten additional Member States. France and Germany registered the highest number of fatalities in aviation accidents. Data show that 244 people died in aviation accidents in France and 162 people died in aviation accidents in Germany in the period 2018-2022.
On the other hand, when looking at commercial air transport, Italy was the EU country that registered the highest number of fatalities over the same period.
