Last year was the safest for commercial aviation worldwide, according to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN).
According to the report, 2017 saw only 10 accidents that resulted in fatalities – 44 travelers aboard aircraft and 35 people on the ground. This compares to 2016, which had 16 accidents resulting in 303 fatalities.
The accident rate for 2017 was one fatal passenger flight accident per 7,360,000 flights worldwide.
The year ended with 398 days with no passenger jet airliner accidents. The last fatal civil aircraft accident was Oct. 31, 2015, and the last fatal passenger jet airliner accident was Nov. 28, 2016.
“Since 1997 the average number of airliner accidents has shown a steady and persistent decline, for a great deal thanks to the continuing safety-driven efforts by international aviation organizations such as ICAO, IATA, Flight Safety Foundation and the aviation industry,” ASN President Harro Ranter said.
Based in the Netherlands, ASN provides information on airliner accidents and safety issues. Accident statistics are from the ASN database which uses data from official and authoritative sources on civil passenger and cargo flights.
Military aviation accidents are not included in the statistics. If they were, the total fatalities would have been 230. The last military aviation accident was June 7.