Last year was the safest in the history of commercial aviation

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION: The number of accidents has been in steady decline for the last fifty years

Last year was the safest ever for commercial aviation according to new statistics.

The Aviation Safety Network (ASN) released its 2017 airliner accident statistics yesterday. The data shows a total of 10 fatal airliner accidents resulting in 44 fatalities.

According to the network, this makes 2017 the safest year ever both by the number of fatal accidents and in terms of fatalities. In 2016, ASN recorded 16 accidents and 303 lives lost.

Five accidents involved cargo flights, five were passenger flights. Given the expected worldwide air traffic of about 36,800,000 flights, the accident rate is one fatal passenger flight accident per 7,360,000 flights.

ASN President Harro Ranter said: “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 organisations such as ICAO, IATA, Flight Safety Foundation and the aviation industry.”

The Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Fang Liu, has issued the following statement:

“ICAO is very encouraged that no major hull losses and very few fatalities were reported for 2017 flights. These results speak to the commitment and cooperation of the governments, operators, and professional men and women worldwide who have worked so hard together to achieve them.”

On December 31, aviation had a record period of 398 days with no passenger jet airliner accidents. Additionally, a record period of 792 days passed since the previous civil aircraft accident claiming over 100 lives.

One out of 10 accident airplanes was operated by an airline on the EU “blacklist”.

These ASN statistics are based on fatal commercial aircraft accidents involving civil aircraft of which the basic model has been certified for carrying 14 or more passengers.

As such, the June 7 Myanmar Air Force crash that killed 122 people, including 15 children, is was not including.

When including military transport aircraft as well as non-commercial flights, the total number fatalities would be 230 in 24 fatal accidents, still the lowest number in modern aviation history.