However, worldwide figures showed both more accidents than the previous year and a jump in the number of fatalities.
“Safety is the number one priority,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of the industry body, which represents some 230 airlines comprising 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic.
“Achieving the lowest accident rate in the history of aviation shows that this commitment is bearing results. Flying is safe.”
Overall in 2010, 786 people were killed in 23 fatal accidents, up from the 685 who perished the year before. In total, there were 94 accidents compared with 90 in 2009.
The 2010 accident rate for Boeing, Airbus and other Western-built aircraft was the lowest in aviation history, at 0.61 hull losses per million flights, said the association in its annual safety report.
A hull loss is defined as an accident in which the aircraft is destroyed or substantially damaged and not subsequently repaired.
There were 17 such hull loss accidents involving Western-built planes, compared to 19 the previous year, according to the data.
Compared to a decade ago, the accident rate has been cut 42 percent.
“Every fatality is a human tragedy that reminds us of the ultimate goal of zero accidents and zero fatalities,” said Bisignani. “We must remain focused and determined to move closer to this goal year by year.”
Overall 2.4 billion people flew safely on 36.8 million flights, IATA said.
The association pointed to marked regional differences in aviation safety.
The safest regions were North America, with a rate of 0.10 hull losses per million flights, Europe (0.45), North Asia (0.34) and Russia, with no aviation accidents in the year.
The Asia-Pacific region had a higher accident rate than the global average at 0.80 in 2010, while the Middle East and North Africa region saw their accident rate fall significantly to 0.72, from 3.32 in 2009.
Latin America and the Caribbean reported a higher rate of 1.87 with four airlines from the region involved in accidents.
Africa had a rate of 7.41, which was lower than the 2009 level of 9.94 but still by far the worst rate in the world.
“Flying must be equally safe in all parts of the world,” said Bisignani. “An accident rate in Africa that is over 12 times the global average is not acceptable. Improvements can happen.”
Of the global total, the most common cause of accidents, at 21 percent, was aircraft overshooting the runway on takeoff or landing – with wet runways being a factor in more than one third of accidents.