IATA: More deaths from plane crashes in 2018

Monday, February 25, 2019

According to new data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) there was a sharp spike in the number of plane crashes in 2018 compared to 2017.

In 2018 there were 62 accidents which was up from 46 in 2017. Considering the fatal accidents the numbers went to 11 from 6 in 2017.

There was a sharp rise from 19 in 2017 and in total 523 people died in the plane crashes in 2018.

According to IATA on an average a passenger would need to fly everyday for 241 years to be in with a chance of crashing.

In 2018 the 29 October Lion Air crash was the biggest air tragedy when  189 passengers and crew died after a Boeing 737 Max jet went down shortly after leaving Indonesian capital Jakarta.

The accident rates saw contribution from crashes in Russia, Cuba, Iran and Nepal.

All accident rate were 1.35 the equivalent of one accident for every 740,000 flights showing a decline as compared to 2017’s record performance of 1.11.

Over the past five years it showed an improvement on the rate of 1.79.

For major jet accidents in 2018 the rate was 0.19 or the equivalent of one major accident for every 5.4 million flights. It showed a decline on 2017’s rate of 0.12 but showed an improvement over the past five years.

In the long term air travel was getting safer even though there were accidents last year, countering the fact that 2017  was an extraordinary year for air safety.

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO said around 4.3 billion passengers flew safely on 46.1 million flights and 2018 was not the extraordinary year that 2017 was. But flying is safe and as per the data it was getting safer.

An average passenger can  take a flight every day for 241 years before experiencing an accident with one fatality on board.

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