THE International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would pursue the implementation and development of new safety initiatives as it recognized the cooperation and strength of the aviation community.

ICAO is working with the Safety Collaborative Assistance Networks (SCAN), the Runway Safety Program and Fatigue Risk Management Systems to identify and eliminate hazards.

The organization stressed its commitment to improving aviation safety and enabling seamless cooperation and communication between stakeholders.

ICAO would continue to collaborate with established regional organizations, such as Regional Aviation Safety Groups (RASGs) and Regional Safety Oversight Organizations (RSOOs), and to promote the training and support necessary to address emerging safety issues.

With the renewed growth in commercial flights and the expected increases in air travel, ICAO would maintain its strong focus on initiatives that would further improve safety measures in the future.

ICAO would continuously develop and refine more proactive and risk-based methods to further reduce the global accident rate, enabling the safe expansion of air travel in all regions.

The number of accidents attributed to scheduled commercial flights increased in 2010 to 121, compared to 113 in 2009.

This resulted in an accident rate of 4.0 per million departures, a marginal increase compared to the accident rate of 3.9 per million departures in 2009.

While the overall number of fatalities in 2010 was below those in 2005 and 2006, there has been an increase in fatalities over the past three years. This trend serves as a reminder that cooperation between the various stakeholders is a key part of reducing the number of aviation accidents and related fatalities, says ICAO.

The ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) continues to promote the systematic implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).

As of the end of 2010, the USOAP had completed assessments of 93% of ICAO Member States, accounting for 99 percent of the traffic flow.

ICAO also noted that the resurgence of traffic experienced in 2010 was coupled with an increase in the number of accidents, resulting in an accident rate of 4.0 per million departures a marginal increase compared to the previous year.

In partnership with the international aviation community to achieve continuous reductions in the global accident rate, ICAO would put more emphasis in improving safety performance in those regions experiencing significantly higher accident rates or having specific safety challenges.