The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on carriers in the Commonwealth of Independent States to take action to improve a safety record, which is currently three or four times worse than that of the global industry.

“Globally, the [airline] industry had one accident for every 2.7 million flights on Western-built jet aircraft. In the Commonwealth of Independent States [CIS], there was one accident for every 940,000 flights–three times worse than the global average. If we look at all aircraft types, the region’s performance is close to four times worse than the global average,” said IATA director general and CEO Tony Tyler the at industry group’s Aviation Day in the Kazakhstan capital Astana.

Tyler’s remarks came just days after an Antonov 28 crashed in Russia killing 10 out of the 14 people aboard.

“Flying should be as safe in Kazakhstan and across Central Asia and the Caucasus as it is anywhere else in the world,” he said. “My first recommendation is for more of the region’s carriers to join the IOSA registry. The IATA Operational Safety Audit [IOSA] is a condition of IATA membership…and is the global standard for managing operational safety,” he said.

According to IATA, airlines on the IOSA registry had a 2011 safety record that was five times better than for carriers that did not participate.