Canada’s Transportation Safety Board released on June 21 its report on transportation occurrence statistics for 2022. While the marine and rail sectors saw year-over-year increases in occurrences, the aviation sector saw a decrease, from 191 accidents in 2021 to 165 in 2022, this despite a marked increase in aviation activities as the industry recovered from the severe COVID-related cutbacks in activity.
Also notable was the drop in accidents from the 10-year average of 233.
The TSB cited Statistics Canada figures of 5.2 million takeoffs and landings at Canada’s major and certain smaller airports, a 14.1 percent increase in activity over 2021. Although 2022’s traffic statistics were only 84.9 percent of pre-pandemic levels, the accident rate was only 71 percent of 2019’s numbers, confirming a definite downward trend.
Twenty-four of the 2022 accidents were fatal, causing the death of 34 people, which is nine percent below the average accident and fatality rate from 2012 to 2021.