HC Deb 06 November 1961 vol 648 cc607-9
27. Mr. Mason

asked the Minister of Aviation if he will list for each year since 1952 the number of passengers killed in accidents on air journeys, giving separate figures for scheduled and non- scheduled flights of the independent air lines, and the number of passenger miles flown, together with comparable figures for the Corporations.

Mr. Woodhouse

As the Answer includes a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Mason

Will the hon. Gentleman indicate whether the list proves that there is a higher accident rate on the independent airlines than on the Corporations and a far higher accident rate on non-scheduled services, such as chartered operations, on the independent airlines than on the Corporations? If that is so, will he take further steps to have more inspections made of the independent airline companies and their aircraft and the facilities of these companies, with a view to raising the safety standards generally?

Mr. Woodhouse

As the Answer contains a lot of figures, and as comparisons based exclusively on those figures might be misleading—in certain respects they are unavoidably incomplete—I suggest that the hon. Gentleman should study the figures before asking further questions.

Mr. Strachey

Will the Parliamentary Secretary give us the fullest possible particulars, because, whether it is a question of chartered flights against scheduled flights or independent airlines against the Corporations, these are vary important questions? There is a great deal of public anxiety in this matter. We cannot come to a fair assessment unless we have the fullest possible figures. We therefore urge the hon. Gentleman to give in this answer and subsequent answers very much fuller figures than have been available up to now.

Mr. Woodhouse

I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that my right hon. Friend is fully aware of the public anxiety in this matter and he shares it, as I have said before. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that the figures which will be published will be the fullest that can be produced.

Following is the Answer:

TABLE 1
SCHEDULED PASSENGER CARRYING PUBLIC TRANSPORT FLIGHTS BY UNITED KINGDOM OPERATORS
Corporations Independent Companies
Calendar Year Passengers killed Passenger miles flown (millions) Passengers killed Passenger miles flown (millions)
1952 … … — 1,206.4 — 26.6
1953 … … 61 1,379.9 — 52.5
1954 … … 84 1,432.4 — 80.0
1955 … … 13 1,681.5 — 119.9
1956 … … 29 1,955.2 — 148.8
1957 … … 17 2,200.7 38 174.0
1958 … … 26 2,378.2 — 186.5
1959 … … — 3,055.5 — 214.6
1960 … … — 3,691.7 — 272.3

TABLE 2
NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER CARRYING PUBLIC TRANSPORT FLIGHTS BY UNITED KINGDOM OPERATORS
Financial Year* British Overseas Airways Corporation† Independent Companies‡
Passengers killed Passenger miles flown (millions) Passengers killed Passenger miles flown (millions)
1952–53 … … — 35.1 33 (+6 non-B.I.A.T.A.) 229.2
1953–54 … … — 56.9 — 401.8
1954–55 … … — 31.3 — 492.2
1955–56 … … — 50.2 47 677.5
1956–;57 … … — 54.4 33 717.8
1957–58 … … — 91.6 35 596.2
1958–59 … … — 98.5 — 672.4
1959–60 … … — 112.2 29 616.1
1960–61 … … — 355.8 — 875.7
* Such passenger mile figures as are available for non-scheduled flights are for financial years. The Corporation figures are for years ended 31st March; the figures for Independents are for years ended 30th June up to 1958–59 and for years ended 31st March from 1959–60 onwards.
† British European Airways do not maintain records of passenger miles on non-scheduled flights. There were 22 passenger fatalities on British European Airways non-scheduled flights in 1957–58.
‡ The only figures available of passenger miles on non.scheduled flights by independent companies are those published by the British Independent Air Transport Association (B.I.A.T.A.) and the passenger mile figures shown therefore exclude operators not belonging to the Association. For the sake of comparability, passenger fatalities have been confined to those on services of B.I.A.T.A. members except in the one case specially noted.
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