Aviation Safety and what we can all do about it

I travel a lot by air and mostly by Nigerian airlines and African airlines. Statistics indicate that though Africa accounts for only 5% of global air traffic, Africa is responsible for nearly 50% of hull losses in the world. These are worrisome statistics. Aviation is by far the safest means of transport all over the world. What can we as individuals do to make it safer for us as travellers?Most carriers in Europe and the United States operate brand new aircraft to benefit from low operating costs. These modern state-of-the-art aircraft tend to cost many times more than the cost of an older generation type of aircraft. In a depressed economy, the tendency is for aircraft operators to operate old age aircraft, defer or skip maintenance and cut corners on mandatory crew training. so one way is for us to pressure airlines to operate newer generation aircraft. I'm not naive and have a considerable grasp of the economies of airplanes. one argument would be to jack up the prices to ensure that operators buy new planes bu that model is soon rubbished by the low cost carrier business model. Many African local operators do not have the resources to acquire modern aircraft with state of the art technology, which are very safe but are also very expensive, and cost more than the GDP of some African countries. For example, a new Boeing 777-200 can cost over 190 million USD while a new A340 as much as 140 million USD. So the way forward would be leasing new aircraft. Nigeria presently has over a hundred aircraft less than ten years old including three brand new Bombardier CRJ- 900 aircraft, and brand new Boeing 737-700, several brand new helicopters, business jets and turboprops. Arik Air has even signed up for delivery of three B777 and four B787 Dreamliners in the near future. Nigeria deposited the Cape Town Convention Declaration at UNIDROIT, Rome to fulfill conditionality and open the door for leasing of modern aircraft to Nigeria. That is a starting point hopefully of something good. That is s starting point for consumer pressure.