This is the result of a considerable decline in the number of accidents that have occurred.
For the first time since 1991, travel insurance airline claims for aircraft accidents will have fallen below the $1 billion mark this year, as the number of fatalities from airplane accidents and the number of destroyed planes have dropped to record lows.
The number of large accidents involving aircraft has plummeted throughout 2012.
Ascend, an advisory firm, made the estimations regarding the number of destroyed aircraft and passenger fatalities and has recently released this data. Losses from damaged aircraft and legal liabilities will reach a total of around $980 million this year. This represents a figure that is approximately $300 million less than it was in 2011.
This year’s travel insurance claims relating to aircraft crashes have fallen significantly.
The travel insurance industry, along with airline insurers, have seen notable decreases over the last twelve months when compared to the year before. According to the report that was released by ascend, claims relating to aircraft crashes were nearly half the $1.8 billion that had been written in premiums within the same period of time this year.
According to information from the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) that was released earlier in December, jets that were built in Western nations suffered “hull loss” accidents 0.19 times for every million flights from January through November. This, as the industry heads into the safest year that it has ever experienced.
That said, the IATA figures did not take into account the Air Bagan Fokker 100 jet crash that occurred on December 25 in Myanmar. This accident killed one person on board and destroyed an aircraft that was no longer in production.
According to the Ascend head of safety, Paul Hayes, “Airline fatal accident rates have been steadily improving and, on average, operations are now twice as safe as they were 15 years ago.” He also added that “With such a benign insurance claims year and increasing capacity in the market, we believe that premium income will continue to fall in 2013.”
This has kept both travel insurance claims for incidents of that nature, and those for the coverage for the airline, to a striking low this year.
