2017 was safest year for air travel
Commercial air travel worldwide recorded its best ever year for safety in 2017.
Out of an estimated 36.8 million flights, there were 10 fatal accidents, five involved passenger planes and five were cargo flights.
There were a total of 44 deaths, also a record low, according to Aviation Safety Network (ASN) data.
All the deaths on scheduled passenger flights were on small planes or turboprop aircraft.
In 2016 there were more than 300 fatalities resulting from 16 accidents. "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," said the ASN.
"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," ASN president Harro Ranter added.
Almost 3.7 billion people flew in 2016, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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