JAKARTA (dpa-AFX) - Despite several high-profile accidents and sharp rise in air crash deaths, 2018 was one of the safest years ever for commercial aviation, figures show.
The 2018 airliner accident statistics that the Aviation Safety Network released Wednesday show taht a total of 556 people were killed in 15 fatal airliner accidents last year.
One third of the fatalities were caused by a Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia in October, in which 189 people were killed.
This makes 2018 the third safest year ever by the number of fatal accidents and the ninth safest in terms of fatalities.
The safest year for commercial airlines in aviation history was 2017 with 10 just accidents and 44 lives lost. No passenger jet crashes were recorded that year.
Looking at that five-year average of 14 accidents and 480 fatalities, last year was worse on both accounts.
Twelve accidents in 2018 involved passenger flights, while three were cargo flights. Three airplanes were operated by airlines on the E.U. 'blacklist'.
When including military transport aircraft the total number fatalities would be 917 in 25 fatal accidents.
Given the estimated worldwide air traffic of about 37,800,000 flights, the accident rate is one fatal accident per 2,520,000 flights, which shows that the level of safety has increased significantly.
Reflecting on this accident rate, Aviation Safety Network's CEO Harro Ranter said, 'If the accident rate had remained the same as ten years ago, there would have been 39 fatal accidents last year. At the accident rate of the year 2000, there would have been even 64 fatal accidents. This shows the enormous progress in terms of safety in the past two decades'.
Looking back at the past five years, loss of control accidents are a major safety concern as this type of accident was responsible for at least ten of the 25 worst accidents.
The Netherlands-based independent aviation safety organisation noted that the April 11 accident involving an Algerian Air Force transport plane that killed 257 is not included in the data, as the model of that plane was not certified for carrying 14 or more passengers.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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