15 aviation accidents involving large passenger aircraft occurred in 2018, with 556 fatalities, according to the Aviation Safety Network's compilation.
That's few from a historical perspective, but more than the average for the last five years.
More than 500 people died in air traffic in 2018, according to Dutch consulting company To70 and the Aviation Safety Network.
The fatalities among larger passenger aircraft were thus one fatality per 2.5 million flights, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which emphasizes that the 15 accidents are few from a longer perspective.
”"If the accident rate had been the same as ten years ago, there would have been 39 fatalities last year. And with the accident rate from 2000, there would have been 64 fatalities. This shows the enormous success when it comes to safety over the past two decades," says Aviation Safety Network CEO Harro Ranter in a press release.
This is an increase from 0.06 fatalities per million flights in 2017, which was the safest year for air traffic to date, but also above the five-year average of 0.24.
Despite this, air travel has become increasingly safer over time. As recently as 2005, there were more than 1,000 deaths, and 2018 was the third safest year ever in terms of the number of accidents, and the ninth safest year in terms of the number of deaths.
Some of the worst accidents in 2018 were the Cubana flight that crashed outside Havana airport with 112 dead in March, the Lion Air crash in the Java Sea in October with 189 on board, and the Saratov airline plane that crashed after takeoff in February, killing all 71 on board.
FACTS
Facts: Flight accidents 2018
The statistics are based on fatal accidents in commercial air traffic (passenger and cargo aircraft) with civil aircraft where the base model has been certified to carry at least 14 passengers.
Therefore, the Algerian military aircraft accident, in which 257 people were killed, is not included.
When including accidents involving military transport aircraft, the death toll would be 917 people in 25 fatal accidents for 2018.
Source: Aviation Safety Network
Source: aftonbladet.se
