This paper reviews reportable aviation incidents and associated cost losses. Aviation incidents include visible smoke incidents inside aircraft passenger cabins, occurrences of fumes and oily smells, and illness cases reported by flight crew members in 2012, for US based carriers for domestic flights and all international flights that either originated or terminated in the US. Cost losses include direct and indirect costs endured by different airlines due to diversions from the scheduled flight route, returns to departure airport, expedited arrival procedures, and cancellation of flights on ground. Two case study scenarios are presented to illustrate minimum and maximum costs limits. Sources used to collect data for this article include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Aviation Administration online database, Research and Innovative Technology Administration database (RITA), and official airline websites.
Average financial loss is estimated to be approximately $32,000 to $47,000 per aviation incident totaling approximately $4.5M to $7M US dollars in 2012. This figure could be doubled when under-reporting of such incidents is taken into consideration.
