With the recent plane crashes in Kazakhstan and South Korea, 2024 is the deadliest Year for civil aviation since 2018. The number of fatalities on board passenger planes is 318 so far, according to data from aviation analyst Cirium.
In 2018, more than 500 people died.
Last week, 39 people were killed in an accident involving an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan. The crash of a Jeju Air plane in South Korea on Sunday has so far claimed 179 lives.
In August, 62 people died in an accident near São Paulo in Brazil. There was also one fatality and dozens of injuries on a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence over Myanmar in May.
A Japan Airlines plane collided with a coast guard aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in January, killing five people. Everyone on board the passenger plane survived, but the five passengers on the smaller plane were killed.
2023 safest year
The first of two Boeing 737 Max accidents occurred in 2018 when 189 people died on a Lion Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea near Indonesia shortly after takeoff.
This Year’s increase in fatalities is a turnaround from 2023, which was the safest Year ever in aviation, with no fatalities on large passenger aircraft from major manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.