Up until 1970, the fatal air accident rate world-wide had been falling dramatically. While the rate, since then, has decreased slightly, this has not been accompanied by an equivalent reduction in the fatality rate of those onboard aircraft. Approximately, 90 per cent of aircraft accidents can be categorised as survivable or technically survivable. In round and, of course, fluctuating figures it is estimated that of the 1500 who die each year in air transport accidents some 900 die in non-survivable accidents. The other 600 die in accidents which are technically survivable and crashworthiness, fire and evacuation issues are all important. Of these 600 perhaps 330 die as a direct result of the impact and 270 due to the effects of smoke, toxic fumes, heat and resulting evacuation problems. Public demand for air travel has increased steadily over the last two decades and further substantial growth can be expected. Forecasts for the doubling of air traffic over the next decade have led airframe manufacturers to start to consider designs for airframes carrying as many as 800 or 1000 passengers. For this reason not only the issues concerned with the prevention of the occurrence of accidents, but also issues related to improving the survival rate in the event of an accident will have major importance in the years to come. Failure to take steps now to deal with the increasing exposure to the risk of accident and injury in air travel can only lead to the lowering of current public confidence in air safety. Improving survivability will necessitate comprehensive review of all promising options available to regulators and industry. In some cases, actions will involve incorporating new features to aircraft at design stage, where costs can be more easily assimilated. In others, where structural considerations are less important, introduction at 'refit' stage may be appropriate. Some measures will be of the type to allow more or less immediate application, others will require research.