Friday, January 5, 2018

Can Safer Air Travel Lower Airline Travel Insurance Premiums?



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?