The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its 2024 Annual Safety Report, raising concerns over the growing rate of runway excursions in the African region.

Though the industry delivered another year of strong overall safety performance, including improvements on the five-year average for several key parameters, it took a step back from an exceptional performance in 2023.

Overall, there were seven fatal accidents in 2024 on 40.6 million flights. That is higher than the single fatal accident recorded in 2023 and the five-year average of five fatal accidents.

There were 244 on-board fatalities in 2024, compared to the 72 fatalities reported in 2023 and the five-year average of 144. Fatality risk remained low at 0.06, below the five-year average (0.1), although double the 0.03 reported in 2023.

With 10 accidents in 2024, the all-accident rate in Africa rose from 8.36 per million sectors in 2023 to 10.59 in 2024, exceeding the five-year average of 8.46.

Africa (AFI), however, recorded the highest accident rate, though the fatality risk remained at zero for the second year in a row.According to findings, the most common accident types in 2024 were runway excursions, followed by those related to landing gear. Forty per cent of all accidents involving AFI-based operators were on turboprop aircraft.
https://guardian.ng/business-services/aviation-business/runway-excursions-raise-concerns-as-africa-records-highest-accident-rate/