Given that air travel fatalities has been in decline for the past 20 years and 2017 was declared as the safest year for airline travel, will the trend result in lower airline travel insurance premiums?
By: Ringo Bones
Even though air crash fatality payouts in airline travel
insurance policies are de rigueur, most air travel insurance policies are
advertised for other reasons. Why buy airline travel insurance? Well, these
days flights and hotels are booked but one needs to protect his or her vacation
investment after shelling out significant amounts of money and those whose day-jobs
involve weekly airline travel trips involving 500 miles or more, concerns arise
if… A) You come down with the flu just a few days before your departure? B) The
tour operator for your 2-day excursion suddenly declares bankruptcy? Or C) You
are unexpectedly laid-off from your job?
Major insurance providers already provide airline travel
insurance to help protect your trip investment by taking the worry out of
unforeseen circumstances that could disrupt your plans. Most of them can
provide trip cancellation coverage, giving your cash back for up to 100-percent
of your trip costs for reasons like: termination by employer, covered illness or
injury of you and your traveling companions, airline stopping services for at
least 24 hours due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, named severe storms
or earthquakes. Affordable plans start as low as 17 US dollars and coverage is
usually around 1,500 US dollars per person for flight cancellations and 300 to
500 US dollars a day for trip interruptions. Will these premiums get even lower
given that 2017 was declared as the safest year ever for airline travel and
airline crash fatalities has been in decline during the past 20 years?
Despite of
the tragic and scary chapter that we call 9/11, the mysterious disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Fight MH 370 back in March 8, 2014, the shooting down of
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Donetsk by a Russian made Buk surface-to-air
missile back in July 17, 2014, the number of airliner accidents has been in a
slow and steady decline during the past 20 years. Harro Ranter, president of
The Aviation Safety Network said: “Since 1997 the average number of airliner
accidents has shown a steady and persistent decline, for a great deal thanks to
the continuing safety-driven efforts by international aviation organizations
such as ICAO, IATA, Flight Safety Foundation and the aviation industry.”
The Dutch consultancy To70, estimated there was now one
fatal accident for every 16-million flights, although its report was compiled
before the Costa Rica crash occurred. While the Aviation Safety Network’s
report shows that the accident rate now stands at one fatal passenger flight
accident per 7,360,000 flights. If cargo planes were included, a report by the
Airline Safety Network shows that there were a total of 10 fatal accidents,
resulting in 79 deaths for the whole of 2017, compared with 16 accidents and
303 lives lost in 2016. The organization based its figures on incidents
involving civil aircraft certified to carry at least 14 people. Given the statistically
significant decline in airline accident fatalities during the past 20 years,
should these translate to lower airline travel insurance premiums?
