Flying remains extremely safe despite latest plane tragedies over Christmas
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Long-term trend is towards ever-safer skies despite two aviation tragedies within four days over Christmas. Families are grieving after two aviation tragedies within four days killed more than 200 passengers and crew. The Christmas Day crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190 was followed by the loss four days later of a Jeju Air Boeing 737.
![[Firefighters check near the wreckage of a passenger plane at Muan International Airport in South Korea]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/29/07/GettyImages-2191717618.jpg)
The calamities come at the end of a year that began with a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 bursting into flames as it landed at Tokyo’s main airport, Haneda. All 379 passengers and crew escaped from the aircraft as it blazed. Three days later, a door plug blew out from a Boeing 737 Max belonging to Alaska Airlines as it climbed from Portland airport in Oregon. Again, all the 177 on board survived after the emergency landing.
![[Wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Christmas Day]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/29/12/Kazakhstan_Azerbaijan_Airliner_Crash_93229.jpg)
Add in the tragic loss in August of 62 passengers and crew aboard a Brazilian ATR72 domestic flight operated by Voepass, and the anxious traveller can see plenty of reasons to be fearful. Yet despite the latest horrifying incident, flying remains far safer than other forms of transport; only rail rivals aviation for keeping passengers alive.
Each of the almost 280 fatalities in plane crashes in 2024 is a profound tragedy. Yet it equates to the number of lives lost on the roads worldwide in just two hours. Decade after decade, aviation is becoming safer. No scheduled passenger jets were involved in fatal crashes during 2023. Only two fatal accidents happened in that year, both involving propeller aircraft on domestic flights, with 86 people losing their lives.
