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Data & Statistics

Safety record of u.s. air carriers.

The U.S. government began publishing statistics on the safety of commercial aviation in 1927. While 1978 legislation eliminated economic regulation of the U.S. airline industry, it left safety regulation very much in place. The following table depicts the safety record of U.S. airlines performing scheduled services worldwide, from 2000 to present, as recorded by NTSB.

Safety Record of U.S. Air Carriers (Part 121 Scheduled Service): 2000 to Present

Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Statistics, Table 6. Fatal Accident Rate excludes incidents resulting from illegal acts, consistent with NTSB practice.

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The top 20 safest airlines in the world, according to experts

  • AirlineRatings.com has named Air New Zealand as the safest airline in the world for 2022.
  • The organization publishes the top 20 list every year, and ANZ beat out 2021's top carrier, Australia-based Qantas.
  • Five US carriers made the list in 2022, though Southwest Airlines dropped off after ranking 13 last year.

Insider Today

AirlineRatings.com, a source for airline safety and product reviews, has revealed its top 20 safest carriers in the world for 2022 , with five US airlines making the list.

Established in 2013, AirlineRatings.com is a trusted website that rates airline safety, inflight products, and COVID-19 compliance of 385 worldwide carriers on a unique seven-star scale. Every year, AirlineRatings.com releases a list of the top safest airlines in the world, and, this year, Air New Zealand snatched the title from Australia-based Qantas. 

AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas explained in a press release that "there is very little between the top 20, they are all standouts."

"Our top 20 safest airlines 2022 are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence, and the launching of new more advanced aircraft like the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787."

Air New Zealand is the safest airline in the world for 2022, according to AirlineRatings.com, with carriers like Etihad Airways, TAP Air Portugal, Qatar, Qantas, Lufthansa, and Finnair also making the list. Five US carriers also earned top spots, including Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines.

According to Thomas, ANZ earned the title because of its superb incident record, number of technological innovations and cockpit advancements, comprehensive pilot training, and low fleet age, which averages just 6.8 years.

AirlineRatings also said ANZ's pilots operate in harsh weather conditions and remote environments, adding to the carrier's safety ranking. Moreover, the airline excelled in COVID policies and practices.

"Air New Zealand has won countless awards and has a firm focus on safety and its customers and over the past 18 months, COVID-19 has brought yet another new dimension to the challenges," Thomas said.

According to the organization, the 2022 awards were based on six factors, including crashes in the past five years, serious incidents over two years, audits from aviation governing bodies, government audits, fleet age, and COVID policies.

However, Thomas clarified that all airlines experience incidents and that it is not always the fault of the carrier when things go wrong, but sometimes rather the aircraft or engine manufacturer. 

"It is the way the flight crew handles these incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one," he said.

Related stories

There were several ranking shifts in 2022 compared to 2021 , most notably were Qantas losing its crown to Air New Zealand after a three-year winning streak, Southwest Airlines falling out of the top 20 after ranking number 13 last year, and TAP Air Portugal being named Europe's safest carrier after not making the list in 2021.

Here's a closer look at AirlineRatings' top 20 safest airlines in the world.

20. Emirates

Emirates barely made the top 20 this year after ranking number five in 2021. The fast-growing airline, which is one of the flag carriers of the UAE, is based in Dubai and operates the world's largest fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft. Emirates flies routes within the Middle East, as well as to destinations in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, North America, Europe, and South America.

19. United Airlines

US-based United Airlines jumped one spot in 2022's safest airline list after barely making the top 20 in 2021. The airline is one of the world's largest carriers after merging with Continental Airlines in 2010 and operates a strong domestic and international network to over 120 destinations worldwide.

18. Delta Air Lines

US-based Delta Air Lines dropped four spots in this year's ranking. The airline is a large international carrier, having merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008. Delta operates to destinations across the Middle East, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe out of its several US hubs.

17. British Airways

British Airways fell seven spots from number 10 in 2021. BA is headquartered in England and is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. The carrier flies to dozens of cities across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, operating out of three London-area airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and London City.

16. Air France/KLM Group

Air France-KLM is a European airline holding company that was formed after the two airlines merged in 2004, though both operate under their own individual brands, according to CAPA . Air France, which did not make the list in 2021, is the national airline of France and is based at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Meanwhile, KLM, which jumped three spots from last year, operates as the Dutch national carrier and has its hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

15. Finnair

Helsinki-based Finnair jumped two spots from number 17 in 2021. The airline is the national carrier of Finland and operates a vast domestic and international network, flying regional routes in Finland and Scandinavia as well as long-haul routes to Asia, Europe, the US, and Canada.

14. Lufthansa Group

Lufthansa, which ranked 18 in 2021, is based in Frankfurt and operates a large international network across Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North America, Latin America, and Africa. The carrier is part of the larger Lufthansa Group that also consists of Swiss International Air Lines, Edelweiss Air, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, and Eurowings Discover, according to the company.

13. American Airlines

American Airlines jumped two spots from number 15 in 2021. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier has a robust domestic and international network carrying passengers to destinations in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Central America, and South America.

12. Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines maintained its number 12 spot in 2022. The carrier is a US-based airline operating flights out of its hubs at Honolulu International Airport on O'ahu and Kahului Airport on Maui. The carrier flies around the Hawaiian islands, offers routes to the continental US, and operates international service to Asia, the Pacific, and Australia.

11. Cathay Pacific Airways

Cathay Pacific Airways dropped two spots from number nine in 2021 to rank 11 this year. The carrier is based in Hong Kong and operates regional and international flights to the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

10.  Virgin Australia/Atlantic

Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic, which ranked number 11 in 2021, operate under the Virgin brand but do not compete on overlapping networks, according to the airlines . Virgin Australia is based in Brisbane and is Australia's second-largest carrier, operating routes across Australia, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South Africa. Virgin Atlantic is UK-based and operates flights to North America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.

9.  EVA Air

EVA Air dropped three spots from number six last year. The Taiwanese carrier is based in Taipei and is the second-largest airline in the country behind China Airlines. EVA flies regional and international routes to destinations in Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada, and the United States.

8.  Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines is the highest-ranking US-based carrier on the top 20 list, maintaining its number eight spot from 2021. The Seattle-based carrier is partnered with American Airlines and is a new Oneworld member. Alaska operates domestic flights across the US as well as international routes to Canada, Central America, and Mexico.

7.  Qantas

After being crowned the world's safest airline in 2021, Qantas lost the title to Air New Zealand this year. The national carrier is based in Australia and operates routes to New Zealand, the Americas, Asia, South Africa, and Europe.

6.  Scandinavian Airlines

Scandinavian Airlines, better known as SAS, jumped an impressive 10 spots in 2022 from number 16 last year. The Stockholm-based carrier is the national airline of three Scandinavian nations, including Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. SAS operates routes around Europe and Scandinavia, as well as to Asia and North America.

5.  TAP Air Portugal

TAP Air Portugal, also known as TAP, made its way into the top 20 list this year after not ranking in 2021. The national carrier of Portugal, which is Europe's safest airline for 2022, operates routes across Europe, North America, South America, and Africa.

4.  Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines maintained its number four spot in 2022. The national carrier is known for its strong long-haul product and serves destinations in Asia, North America, Australasia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

3.  Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways dropped one spot this year after being named the number two safest airline for 2021. The Doha-based airline is the national carrier of Qatar and is one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, according to the company . Qatar maintains an extensive network of routes across the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

2.  Etihad Airways

After ranking number seven in 2021, Etihad Airways jumped to number two this year. The Abu Dhabi-based airline is one of the flag carriers of the UAE and flies to destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia.

1.  Air New Zealand

Rounding out the top 20 list this year is Air New Zealand after taking the number three spot in 2021. ANZ is the country's national carrier and serves Australia, the Pacific, Asia, and North America.

air travel safety record

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Out Front on Airline Safety: Two Decades of Continuous Evolution

The commercial aviation system in the United States operates at an unprecedented level of safety. During the past 20 years, commercial aviation fatalities in the U.S. have decreased by 95 percent as measured by fatalities per 100 million passengers.

We achieved this safety record because the FAA continually evolved in how it approaches safety oversight – both in detecting risks and in responding to the risks identified. Key to this approach is a longstanding commitment to sharing data through an open and collaborative safety culture to detect risks and address problems before accidents occur.

Our comprehensive, risk-based safety oversight process consists of several key elements: the Commercial Aviation Safety Team; the Aviation Safety Information and Sharing program; voluntary reporting programs; Aviation Safety Infoshare; the FAA’s Safety Assurance System; airline Safety Management Systems; and the FAA’s approach to ensuring compliance..

Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)

The FAA, with the aviation industry, formed CAST in 1997. CAST marked an evolution beyond the traditional approach of examining accident data to a proactive approach that focuses on detecting risk and implementing mitigation strategies before accidents or serious incidents occur. Voluntary reporting programs are an important data source for CAST.

This transition to prognostic safety analysis emphasizes acquiring, sharing, and analyzing safety data from across the aviation community. CAST uses the data to identify emerging and changing risks, and airlines voluntarily implement safety mitigation strategies that CAST develops.

CAST’s work, along with new aircraft, regulations, and other activities, has virtually eliminated the traditional common causes of commercial accidents – controlled flight into terrain, weather, wind shear, and failure to complete checklists. As a result, the fatality risk for commercial aviation in the United States fell 83 percent from 1998 to 2008. CAST aims to reduce the U.S. commercial fatality risk by another 50 percent between 2010 and 2025.

The FAA expects carriers to assess risks, including those identified by CAST and the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system, and take appropriate actions. Inspectors follow up with the carriers to ensure their Safety Management System (SMS) processes consider risks that CAST and ASIAS identified. If the carriers have not evaluated these risks, the inspector may program the Safety Assurance System (SAS) to require increased surveillance of the carrier.

Check out this fact sheet for more information on CAST.  

Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS)

The ASIAS program, which began about 10 years ago, brings together data and information across government and industry, including voluntarily provided safety data, to detect emerging risks, monitor known risks, and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigations.

ASIAS is an evolving program that continually adds participants and data sources. Current participants include 46 scheduled airlines, 63 corporate/business operators, 10 universities, five manufacturers, and two maintenance, repair, and overhaul organizations. ASIAS safety data comes from operators that account for 99 percent of U.S. air carrier commercial operations.

ASIAS has established metrics that enable CAST to evaluate the effectiveness of safety mitigations. ASIAS also partners with the industry-sponsored Aviation Safety InfoShare meeting, which facilitates the sharing of safety issues and best practices in a protected environment. This partnership enables ASIAS to help identify emerging systemic safety issues early on.

This fact sheet has additional information on ASIAS.

Since CAST’s inception, its members have adopted more than 100 safety enhancements. The last 22 safety enhancements that CAST adopted were based on data that ASIAS provided.

Here’s one example:

Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) alert pilots when they’re flying too close to terrain. It’s one of the technologies that has virtually eliminated the risk of controlled-flight-into-terrain accidents in U.S. commercial passenger operations.

However, through information from voluntary safety programs, ASIAS learned that TAWS sometimes generated alerts that pilots perceived to be incorrect or overly conservative. This was leading pilots to become desensitized to the alerts.

ASIAS pioneered an approach to identify what caused TAWS to alert when the aircraft was not at risk. Based on these factors, CAST developed two safety enhancements to reduce TAWS nuisance alerts, resulting in a drop in reported nuisance alerts.

This is an example of how the FAA and the airline industry, through information sharing, were able to monitor the effectiveness of a safety technology and take steps to address an unforeseen issue with it.

Voluntary Reporting Programs

As noted above, data collection and analysis is key to identifying potential risks before they become major problems. In the late 1990s, the FAA began implementing non-punitive, voluntary reporting programs to help ensure that aviation professionals provide this critical safety information.

Today, we have voluntary reporting programs for pilots, cabin crew members, dispatchers, mechanics, air traffic controllers, FAA airport division employees and others. They have significantly contributed to the nation’s safety record, including improvements to training and operational and maintenance procedures.

Information on these voluntary programs is available in this fact sheet .

Aviation Safety Infoshare

Along with CAST and ASIAS, the FAA also participates in Infoshare. This is a semi-annual, industry-sponsored and FAA-facilitated event for domestic, international and corporate operators, labor organizations, trade associations, government organizations and major manufacturers. Infoshare started two decades ago with a handful of operators and now includes more than 800 aviation safety professionals.

The forum enables participants to share information about safety issues and concerns, best practices for data analysis, successful mitigation strategies, and the results of their studies of proactive safety programs, including Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) .

InfoShare’s success is based on longstanding collaborative partnerships and is made possible through voluntary safety programs; trust between management, labor and the regulator; confidential protections for the data reporting systems; and a non-punitive reporting environment.

CAST and ASIAS use the information from InfoShare to better understand the factors that contribute to systemic safety issues in the National Airspace System.   

Safety Assurance System

The Safety Assurance System (SAS) is the FAA’s comprehensive, data-driven system that provides a standardized and methodical approach to verify that all airlines comply with their mandate to operate to the highest possible safety levels.

SAS is a sophisticated, interactive computer system that draws safety data from numerous and varied sources. It helps alert FAA safety inspectors to areas of an airline's operation on which they should focus their oversight. It also allows inspectors to tailor their oversight plans to each airline’s unique operation and to any issues the data identifies.

SAS contains data on every aspect of an airline's operation, including organizational management, flight operations, crew training, maintenance, dispatch and more. Inspectors can program up to 38 separate risk indicators into the system, ranging from previous safety oversight findings to incidents the carrier recently experienced.

The data in the system is continually updated with information that inspectors find during inspections and that the airline provides, and from more than two dozen additional sources. These sources include voluntary reporting programs that allow airline personnel to report safety information without fear of punishment, as well as information from the National Transportation Safety Board and from numerous FAA safety, accident/incident, enforcement, quality control, aircraft and pilot databases.

By constantly analyzing large volumes of diverse data, the system provides FAA inspectors with a real-time, comprehensive and highly accurate depiction of a carrier's operations–and whether anything needs to be done to address a particular risk factor.

Here is an example of how SAS works:

An airline voluntarily reports that its pilots have accidentally flown without authorization into restricted airspace. In addition to addressing the immediate issue with the airline, the FAA inspector would program the SAS to require additional assessments of the airline’s flight operations training program.

Safety Management Systems

A Safety Management System (SMS) is a set of policies and processes that enables  airlines to identify potential hazards in their operations, assess the risks from those hazards, implement measures to address those risks, and ensure those measures are effective. In 2015, the FAA required all scheduled U.S. airlines to have accepted SMS in place by March 2018. All 70 airlines met that deadline.

The SMS requirement is a significant evolution in how our safety oversight system works. With SMS, the FAA now expects airlines to play a more proactive safety role by identifying potential risks in their operation and presenting the FAA with plans for addressing them. SMS does not replace FAA oversight; rather, it adds another layer of redundancy to the safety system.

An airline’s SMS must cover all aspects of its operation, including dispatch, flight operations, maintenance and training. The SMS has four components: a safety policy that defines the methods, processes and organizational structure needed to meet its safety goals; a risk-management strategy that determines the need for, and adequacy of, new or revised measures to address risks; a safety assurance element that continually evaluates the effectiveness of those measures; and actions to promote safety such as training and communication.

The FAA’s SMS regulation also requires airlines to identify a specific executive who is accountable for safety, and enable employees to confidentially report safety concerns and propose solutions or improvements.

Through the SMS regulation, the FAA requires airlines to develop processes to perform safety risk analyses when they make changes to their operations including adding new aircraft or routes or beginning new types of service; investigate internal reports that the carrier has failed to comply with regulations; and develop processes to analyze the safety data they acquire.

Airlines design their own SMS to match the size, complexity and business model of their operations. FAA safety inspectors then use the Safety Assurance System to determine whether the carrier’s proposed SMS is properly designed to identify hazards and effectively address the associated risks. FAA inspectors also use the SAS to determine whether the airline’s SMS is achieving the intended safety results.

Here are two examples of how SMS works.

Example One: An airline flies in areas that experience frigid winter conditions. As a result, the carrier’s organizational processes include its de-icing operation. The airline’s first step in integrating its de-icing operation into its SMS is to inventory every aspect of this operation at every airport it serves. The airline looks at everything from how employees are trained to the tools they use to where the de-icing fluid is purchased. It evaluates the risk of improper de-icing, and determines the risk is high. So it puts extensive processes in place that, among other things, ensure employees get recurrent training in proper de-icing procedures, specify what procedures must be followed in specific icing conditions, and require periodic inspections of the vendors that supply the de-icing chemicals. The airline also sets up processes to analyze how often mistakes are made in the de-icing program so that corrective actions can be quickly identified and implemented. It also sets up a process to evaluate the effectiveness of those corrective actions.

Example Two: An airline aborts its takeoff because the aircraft’s tail strikes the runway as the plane is about to leave the ground. The airline’s SMS requires it to look at what could have caused the tail strike, and it determines the event likely was due to an uneven distribution of passengers. Upon identifying this risk, the airline proactively takes steps to improve its passenger distribution process. The airline’s first step is to map out all the activities involved in the passenger-loading process and in calculating weight and balance, and looking at every factor that could lead to a mistake. Once it identifies where mistakes have occurred, the airline will make changes or apply controls to reduce the chance that this mistake will occur again. This includes developing new processes for flight attendants to ensure an even passenger distribution, and to ensure flight attendants have done this before informing the pilots that the cabin is ready for departure. The carrier revises its flight attendant manual o incorporate a checklist that requires flight attendants to perform a visual inspection and passenger count to confirm passengers are evenly distributed throughout the cabin. The airline also shares this new process data with the FAA. The FAA inspectors who oversee the airline then program their Safety Assurance System to require additional assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of the airline’s new process for configuring passenger distribution and for calculating weight and balance.  

The key to continuous improvements in airline safety is to create a sustainable culture of safety through an open and transparent exchange of information and data between the FAA and the aviation community. The FAA began this process in the 1990s by establishing a framework for airlines and others to share safety data in a non-punitive setting, through voluntary programs such as the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program (VDRP).

The success of these voluntary safety programs has demonstrated that in today’s highly complex operating environment, a collaborative compliance approach is the most effective way to achieve the FAA’s core goal: to quickly find and fix safety issues before they can cause an accident or incident. By adopting this approach, the FAA is able to obtain actionable information to identify emerging risks, employ the most appropriate measures to address those risks, and monitor the situation to ensure the measures continue to be effective.

The FAA’s approach mirrors the open and transparent information-sharing approach that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) expects its member countries to implement.

It emphasizes a shared commitment to safety–that all stakeholders are responsible for, and accountable for, ensuring the safest possible aviation system. At the same time, it recognizes that people make inadvertent mistakes and that those mistakes can provide valuable data and information to help mitigate future problems and prevent accidents. Accordingly, it encourages information sharing about safety issues by enabling operators to do so without the fear of being punished

Therefore, in cases where a deviation results from factors such as flawed procedures, simple mistakes or a lack of understanding, the FAA uses tools like training or documented improvements to procedures to ensure compliance.

However, when the FAA encounters intentional reckless behavior, flagrant violations, or refusal to cooperate in corrective action, it uses the tool of legal enforcement action to gain compliance. If an air carrier is unwilling or unable to comply with laws and regulations, the agency can – and does – revoke the company’s ability to operate. 

This approach distinguishes between the goal–compliance with the regulations–and the many tools the agency can use to achieve compliance. By emphasizing the goal of compliance, the FAA has improved communication with operators and fostered the kind of open, transparent, and robust safety culture we need to collectively assure aviation safety.

Here are two real-world examples of how our compliance approach has worked to improve safety:

Example One: In 2017, a commercial airline crew inadvertently landed on a taxiway instead of a runway at an airport that did not have a control tower. The crew voluntarily reported the incident to the FAA through the Aviation Safety Action Program . Because the crew was comfortable with the safety culture and this approach to compliance, during the FAA investigation they freely discussed what happened and provided invaluable insight about why it happened: the only lights they saw were taxiway lights, because a flooded electrical box had extinguished the runway lights. This open, first-hand reporting allowed the quick mitigation of a hazard that could have similarly confused other flight crews.

Example Two: Because of the increased openness and transparency fostered by the FAA’s compliance approach, a major air carrier has allowed FAA inspectors to have unfettered access to dozens of its proprietary, real-time event-reporting databases. The immediate information inspectors get from the live databases enables them to quickly adjust their surveillance to any areas of the carrier’s operation where there is an indication of increased risk. Access to real-time data also tells inspectors whether their surveillance activities and actions are effective. The carrier provided this access knowing that doing so could potentially alert FAA inspectors to a regulatory violation. This type of openness is possible because the FAA’s compliance approach encourages operators to share information without the fear of being punished for inadvertent violations.

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Study: Commercial air travel is safer than ever

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It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by Arnold Barnett, the George Eastman Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Shown are evening air traffic patterns in Europe.

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It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by an MIT professor that tracks the continued decrease in passenger fatalities around the globe.

The study finds that between 2008 and 2017, airline passenger fatalities fell significantly compared to the previous decade, as measured per individual passenger boardings — essentially the aggregate number of passengers. Globally, that rate is now one death per 7.9 million passenger boardings, compared to one death per 2.7 million boardings during the period 1998-2007, and one death per 1.3 million boardings during 1988-1997.

Going back further, the commercial airline fatality risk was one death per 750,000 boardings during 1978-1987, and one death per 350,000 boardings during 1968-1977.

“The worldwide risk of being killed had been dropping by a factor of two every decade,” says Arnold Barnett, an MIT scholar who has published a new paper summarizing the study’s results. “Not only has that continued in the last decade, the [latest] improvement is closer to a factor of three. The pace of improvement has not slackened at all even as flying has gotten ever safer and further gains become harder to achieve. That is really quite impressive and is important for people to bear in mind.”

The paper, “Aviation Safety: A Whole New World?” was published online this month in Transportation Science . Barnett is the sole author.

The new research also reveals that there is discernible regional variation in airline safety around the world. The study finds that the nations housing the lowest-risk airlines are the U.S., the members of the European Union, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The aggregate fatality risk among those nations was one death per 33.1 million passenger boardings during 2008-2017. Barnett chose the nation as the unit of measurement in the study because important safety regulations for both airlines and airports are decided at the national level.

For airlines in a second set of countries, which Barnett terms the “advancing” set with an intermediate risk level, the rate is one death per 7.4 million boardings during 2008-2017. This group — comprising countries that are generally rapidly industrializing and have recently achieved high overall life expectancy and GDP per capita — includes many countries in Asia as well as some countries in South America and the Middle East.

For a third and higher-risk set of developing countries, including some in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the death risk during 2008-2017 was one per 1.2 million passenger boardings — an improvement from one death per 400,000 passenger boardings during 1998-2007.

“The two most conspicuous changes compared to previous decades were sharp improvements in China and in Eastern Europe,” says Barnett, who is the George Eastman Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In those places, he notes, had safety achievements in the last decade that were strong even within the lowest-risk group of countries.

Overall, Barnett suggests, the rate of fatalities has declined far faster than public fears about flying.

“Flying has gotten safer and safer,” Barnett says. “It’s a factor of 10 safer than it was 40 years ago, although I bet anxiety levels have not gone down that much. I think it’s good to have the facts.”

Barnett is a long-established expert in the field of aviation safety and risk, whose work has helped contextualize accident and safety statistics. Whatever the absolute numbers of air crashes and fatalities may be — and they fluctuate from year to year — Barnett has sought to measure those numbers against the growth of air travel.

To conduct the current study, Barnett used data from a number of sources, including the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network Accident Database. He mostly used data from the World Bank, based on information from the International Civil Aviation Organization, to measure the number of passengers carried, which is now roughly 4 billion per year.

In the paper, Barnett discusses the pros and cons of some alternative metrics that could be used to evaluate commercial air safety, including deaths per flight and deaths per passenger miles traveled. He prefers to use deaths per boarding because, as he writes in the paper, “it literally reflects the fraction of passengers who perished during air journeys.”

The new paper also includes historical data showing that even in today’s higher-risk areas for commerical aviation, the fatality rate is better, on aggregate, than it was in the leading air-travel countries just a few decades in the past.

“The risk now in the higher-risk countries is basically the risk we used to have 40-50 years ago” in the safest air-travel countries, Barnett notes.

Barnett readily acknowledges that the paper is evaluating the overall numbers, and not providing a causal account of the air-safety trend; he says he welcomes further research attempting to explain the reasons for the continued gains in air safety.

In the paper, Barnett also notes that year-to-year air fatality numbers have notable variation. In 2017, for instance, just 12 people died in the process of air travel, compared to 473 in 2018.

“Even if the overall trendline is [steady], the numbers will bounce up and down,” Barnett says. For that reason, he thinks looking at trends a decade at a time is a better way of grasping the full trajectory of commercial airline safety.

On a personal level, Barnett says he understands the kinds of concerns people have about airline travel. He began studying the subject partly because of his own worries about flying, and quips that he was trying to “sublimate my fears in a way that might be publishable.”

Those kinds of instinctive fears may well be natural, but Barnett says he hopes that his work can at least build public knowledge about the facts and put them into perspective for people who are afraid of airplane accidents.

“The risk is so low that being afraid to fly is a little like being afraid to go into the supermarket because the ceiling might collapse,” Barnett says.

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Prof. Arnold Barnett speaks with NPR reporter Juliana Kim about airline safety and the risks associated with flying. According to Barnett, "from 2018 to 2022, the chances of a passenger being killed on a flight anywhere in the world was 1 in 13.4 million. Between 1968 to 1977, the chance was 1 in 350,000,” writes Kim.

Fast Company

Fast Company reporter Arianne Cohen writes that a new study by Prof. Arnold Barnett finds flying today is much safer than it was in the past. Barnett examined flight safety from 2008 to 2017 and found that “globally, flying today is six times safer than 30 years ago, and 22 times safer than 50 years ago.”

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Air transportation safety in the U.S. - statistics & facts

Accidents in general aviation, security measures, covid-19 impact on the safety of air travel, editor’s picks current statistics on this topic, current statistics on this topic.

Lifetime odds of dying in a transport accident in the U.S. 2020

U.S. airlines - revenue passenger miles 2004-2021

U.S. air carriers - total performed aircraft departures 1991-2021

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U.S. Air Carrier Safety Data

Embedded Dataset Excel:

Dataset Excel:

Aircraft-miles , Aircraft departures , and Flight hours are compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Rates are computed by dividing the number of Fatalities , Seriously injured persons , Total accidents , and Fatal accidents by the number of Aircraft-miles , Aircraft departures , or Flight hours . These figures are based on information provided by airlines to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information. The illegal acts, such as suicide, sabotage and terrorism, are included in the totals for accidents,  fatalities, and rate computation. 1991 data do not include the 12 persons killed aboard a SkyWest commuter aircraft when it and a U.S. Air aircraft collided. For 2001, fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist acts are excluded, other than the persons aboard the aircraft who were killed. 

Description:

KEY:  N = data do not exist; P = preliminary; R = revised.

a Air carriers operating under 14 CFR 121, scheduled and nonscheduled service. Includes all scheduled and nonscheduled service accidents involving all-cargo carriers and commercial operators of large aircraft when those accidents occurred during 14 CFR 121 operations. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 121 includes aircraft with 10 or more seats formerly operated under 14 CFR 135. This change makes it difficult to compare pre-1997 data for 14 CFR 121 and 14 CFR 135  with more recent data. 

Fatalities, accidents, miles, departures, and flight hours:

1960: National Transportation Safety Board,  Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations , Calendar Year 1967 (Washington, DC: December 1968).

1965-70: National Transportation Safety Board, Calendar Year 1975, NTSB/ARC-77/1 (Washington, DC: January 1977).

1975 (all categories except miles): National Transportation Safety Board, Calendar Year 1983, NTSB/ARC-87/01 (Washington, DC: February 1987), table 18.

1975 (miles): National Transportation Safety Board, Calendar Year 1975, NTSB/ARC-77/1 (Washington, DC: January 1977 ).

1980: National Transportation Safety Board, Calendar Year 1981, NTSB/ARC-85/01 (Washington, DC: February 1985), tables 2 and 16.

1985-2021: National Transportation Safety Board, National Transportation Safety Board,  Aviation Accident Statistics , table 5, available at  http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/data/pages/aviation_stats.aspx  as of Dec. 27, 2022.

Serious injuries:

1970-85: National Transportation Safety Board,  Annual Review of Aircraft Accident Data: U.S. Air Carrier Operations  (Washington, DC: Annual Issues).

1990-2021: National Transportation Safety Board, Analysis and Data Division, personal communication, Apr. 2011, Jul. 2012,  Aug. 2013, Sept. 25, 2014, April 2, 2015, Mar. 22, 2016, Sept. 26, 2016, Apr. 20, 2018, Aug. 8, 2019, Nov. 25, 2019, Oct. 28, 2020, Oct. 22, 2021 and Nov. 28, 2022.

Aviation incidents seem to be proliferating, but experts say there's no reason for alarm

jets airplanes take off runway idle

A flying tire. A runway roll-off. Multiple emergency landings.

It may seem like mishaps involving planes have been growing in frequency. But experts say there is no cause for major alarm, as the aviation industry’s safety record remains better than it’s ever been when measured by lives lost.

“This is not a safety trend,” said John Cox, a pilot and the president and CEO of Safety Operating Systems LLC, of the recent spate of high-profile incidents.

According to the aviation industry publication FlightGlobal, there were just six recorded fatal commercial aviation accidents worldwide in 2023, resulting in 115 deaths — the fewest on record.

National Transportation Safety Board data confirms the downward trend: Compared with 27 major accidents involving large U.S. carriers in 2008, there were just 20 in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

The rate of accidents involving injury or death to a passenger or substantial damage to a plane has also declined — from 0.141 per 100,000 flight hours to 0.112 in 2022.

In other words, the data shows flying has rarely been safer.

“There’s not anything unusual about the recent spate of incidents — these kinds of things happen every day in the industry,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a pilot and the president of Guzzetti Aviation Risk Discovery LLC.

Still, the flying public is now especially attuned to such reports — perhaps most notably because of January’s midair blowout incident on an Alaska Airlines flight involving a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet.

Among the latest high-profile events: On Friday, a United Airlines flight on a Boeing 737-800 rolled off the runway in Houston while taxiing to its gate. No one was injured. United noted the plane was operating in rainy conditions at the time.

On Thursday, a tire fell off a United Airlines flight on a Boeing 777-200 that had just taken off from San Francisco, forcing an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport. No one was injured in that incident either. Cox told The Associated Press tire incidents are usually a maintenance issue and not linked to the manufacturer. United said the plane, built in 2002, was designed to land safely without all tires in operation.

On Monday, a United Airlines flight on a Boeing 737-900 from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, had to make an emergency landing after  flames started shooting out of the engine . United said in a statement that it appeared bubble wrap entered the airfield and was ingested by the plane’s engine.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating these incidents.

The NTSB also revealed this week it was investigating a United flight on a Boeing 737 Max in February that had potentially faulty rudder pedals.

In a statement, United said it is also looking at each of the incidents, though they all appear to be unique.

“Each of these events is distinct and unrelated to one another,” the airline said. “Safety is our top priority, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep our customers and employees safe.”

Boeing also said it was assisting with investigations of the incidents.

No likely connection to any one airline or plane manufacturer

Experts pointed out that each incident is unique and may not be related to United or Boeing. Even as he acknowledged the commonality of United and Boeing as the players in each of these incidents, Guzzetti said such cases were still fairly common in the regular course of flying.

“If you look at the big picture, there hasn’t been an increase in the number of incidents,” Guzzetti said. “There’s just a lot of scrutiny now because of the door-plug event, so you have a jittery public and the news media picking up all these things.”

Because consumers can use their phone cameras to immediately broadcast these mishaps over vast social media networks as they happen, that makes the public more aware of them, even if their frequency has not actually increased, Cox said.

Still, while experts say there is little cause for alarm, they acknowledge a crucial part of the air travel industry has changed in recent years — namely, that aviation personnel on average now have less experience than previous generations of pilots and maintenance crews.

“I think it’s a possibility that the lack of super-experienced and qualified pilots and mechanics could play a role in decreasing aviation safety,” Guzzetti said. “But it’s hard to quantify. I don’t think the decrease is alarming — you can’t quantify that — or even correlate it. But it’s worthy of consideration.”

Another factor that could be at play is newer airplanes. In fact, older planes were in some ways easier to manage because they were less technologically sophisticated, experts say.

But newer planes have more automatic or computerized features that may make flying easier for a pilot, but which are harder to deal with when something goes wrong.

“The evolution of airplanes is requiring changes in how we train pilots, where there’s a focus not only on understanding the systems of an airplane, but also managing that automation while keeping manual flying skills sharp,” said Cox.

Yet the reduced accident count is proof that, overall, these newer planes have made flying safer, he said.

Boeing and its 737 Max line of planes remain under investigation by the NTSB in the wake of the January blowout incident. Earlier this week, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy blasted Boeing for failing to turn over information related to its 737 Max manufacturing process; a day later, Boeing provided the names of 737 Max employees, according to Reuters.

The news wire service also reported the NTSB now plans to hold a multiple-day investigative hearing into the Max 9, likely in late summer.

air travel safety record

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.

air travel safety record

If it's Boeing, are you going? Why travelers are wary of the Max line, but airlines aren't

I n the wake of the latest Boeing 737 Max fiasco – a weekslong grounding following the explosive decompression of an Alaska Airlines flight in January – a lot of passengers are inverting that old mantra “if it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going.”

Duc Vu, 41, was already wary of flying on the 737 Max 8 after its second crash in 2019, but the most recent incident confirmed his feelings about the aircraft family.

Boeing has pledged to be transparent and strengthen safety . “But for me, it’s too little, too late,” the Philadelphia management consultant told USA TODAY.

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Vu has tried to avoid the 737 Max line when he flies, even switching his go-to carrier from Southwest Airlines to American due to the higher number in the former’s fleet (though neither fly the Max 9 variant involved in the January incident). “In light of everything that happened with the Alaska flight, I felt very validated in my decision-making,” he said.

Vu is hardly alone. Social media is littered with posts from travelers who say they want to avoid Boeing 737 Max jets in their future travels.

Travel booking company Kayak even included filters on its flight search page that allow passengers to exclude itineraries with certain aircraft types.

But for most travelers, it may be tough to decode what kind of plane is operating their flight because, ultimately, airlines – not passengers – are Boeing’s customers. Travelers may not have much say over what kind of plane they’re boarding once they’ve decided to fly somewhere.

Most experts suggest there’s no reason to worry, though. Many point to the excellent overall safety record of aviation in the U.S., and airlines that fly the Max say they’re sticking with Boeing, even as regulators increase oversight of the company’s production lines.

Is the 737 Max safe?

The Boeing 737 Max’s shadowed reputation isn’t random. Soon after the aircraft type entered service, two major crashes left 346 people dead. The line of planes was grounded for nearly two years as Boeing and regulators addressed a software issue that was ultimately implicated in both disasters. 

Once the planes were back in the air, there were no major safety concerns until Jan. 5, when a door plug covering an unused emergency exit ripped off during an Alaska Airlines flight. No one was injured, and the flight returned to Portland, Oregon, safely, but the incident once again led regulators to ground some Boeing 737 Max jets – this time only Max 9 variants with the same door plug; 171 aircraft in all – until the cause of the issue was identified. 

The grounding lasted about three weeks, and many affected Max jets are already back in service after undergoing required inspections.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report on Tuesday, suggesting that four bolts meant to hold the door plug in place on the Alaska Airlines jet were missing at the time of the January incident, though the agency said the investigation remains ongoing.

But even after the 2019 grounding, which resulted from much more catastrophic issues, passengers kept flying Max aircraft when they returned to service.

“There’s no evidence whatsoever that people were deterred from flying,” Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst and managing director at Aerodynamic Advisory, previously told USA TODAY. “At the end of the day, airlines are keeping the faith.”

While the National Transportation Safety Board has not yet issued its final report on the Alaska Airlines incident, the lifting of the grounding suggests regulators are satisfied that the door plug was the primary cause of the problem and that the required inspections are enough to rectify any future issues with Max 9s.

Casey McCreary, a Portland-based body piercer, had anxiety about whether Boeing planes were safe in the wake of the incident. But she said those fears won’t dictate whether she flies or which airline she chooses.

“It does feel like it would be impractical to avoid them, but also, them having so many planes out there that haven't had these issues does help a little bit,” she said.

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the main operators of the Max 9 in the U.S., said their inspections turned up similar manufacturing defects in other planes affected by the grounding, and the Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up oversight of Boeing’s production processes in the wake of the incident.

However, in public statements, regulators insist the Max 9 remains extremely safe.

“Our findings during inspections of those aircraft showed that the quality system issues at Boeing were unacceptable and require further scrutiny,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a congressional hearing Tuesday. “We will follow the data and take appropriate and necessary action. The safety of the flying public will continue to inform our decision-making.”

Did Boeing damage its reputation with its clients?

Airlines are certainly frustrated by Boeing’s manufacturing issues, but they seem satisfied that the planes they’re ordering are safe.

“They're going through a rough patch right now, but I believe that Boeing is, across the board from top to bottom, is committed to changing and fixing it,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said during the airline’s January earnings call. “There's no one that's a bigger supporter that wants Boeing to succeed outside of Boeing than me, and I'll do everything I can to help.”

Cruising Altitude: I've covered Boeing's 737 MAX for years. Here's a quick rundown of the issues.

Alaska Airlines, which operates an all-Boeing fleet for mainline aircraft, was similarly bullish on the manufacturer in its January earnings call.

“As a longtime valued partner, we remain fully committed to our relationship with Boeing, but we also intend to hold them accountable,” CEO Ben Minicucci said. “There is work to be done, but we have the utmost confidence with FAA oversight as well as our own that Boeing will emerge with improved quality processes as a better and safer manufacturer.”

McCreary, 33, still has doubts. But even if an upcoming flight was scheduled on a Max 9, she figured now might be as good a time as any. “I feel like, statistically, it might be the safest plane to fly on because of how heavily they've been scrutinized lately,” she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If it's Boeing, are you going? Why travelers are wary of the Max line, but airlines aren't

A Boeing 737 MAX 7 takes off on its first flight on March 16, 2018, in Renton, Washington.

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Why flying is still safe despite high-profile problems

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Juliana Kim

air travel safety record

Two United Airlines Boeing 737s are parked at the gate at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 7, 2022. Wilfredo Lee/AP hide caption

Two United Airlines Boeing 737s are parked at the gate at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 7, 2022.

Despite a string of high-profile flight mishaps on United Airlines flights in recent days, commercial air travel is still very safe, experts say.

"Planes that we fly on today, they're safer than they've ever been," says Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

This past week, United Airlines was under the spotlight for a series of emergencies: Last Monday, the engine of one of its planes ingested bubble wrap and caught fire in mid-air. On Thursday, a tire of an aircraft fell off and smashed into a parked car shortly after takeoff. On Friday, one of its planes experienced a hydraulics issue.

No one was injured in any of the United incidents. The airline said in a statement that safety is its top priority and it will investigate each event.

The back-to-back emergencies come two months after a door plug tore off and left a gaping hole during an Alaska Airlines flight. No one aboard was seriously injured.

That plane, along with the jetliners involved in Monday and Thursday's United incidents, was made by Boeing. Meanwhile, the plane involved in Friday's emergency was made by Airbus.

Boeing is withholding key details about door plug on Alaska 737 Max 9 jet, NTSB says

Boeing is withholding key details about door plug on Alaska 737 Max 9 jet, NTSB says

While those recent events paint an unsettling image of the skies, aviation safety experts say it's not the whole picture, and it's not enough to write off Boeing, United or flying in general.

When asked about the recent concerns over flying, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said federal data shows flight safety has been improving over the years. "American aviation is the safest means of travel in the world," he said at a press conference Monday.

air travel safety record

A damaged car is seen in an airport employee parking lot after tire debris from a Boeing 777 landed on it at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday. Haven Daley/AP hide caption

Here's what to know.

Globally, commercial plane accidents and deaths are rare and declining

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association for airlines, the number of accidents involving commercial planes has been going down over the years.

In 2023, the commercial aviation industry saw 30 total accidents, one of which was fatal — 72 people were killed in Nepal in what investigators said was pilot error . A year prior, there were five deadly accidents with 158 fatalities. In 2013, there were 11 fatal accidents causing 638 fatalities, according to the IATA.

To put it differently, the risk of boarding a fatal flight has been getting lower. Arnold Barnett, a statistician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied airline safety , tells NPR that from 2018 to 2022, the chances of a passenger being killed on a flight anywhere in the world was 1 in 13.4 million. Between 1968 to 1977, the chance was 1 in 350,000.

The FAA gives Boeing 90 days to fix quality control issues. Critics say they run deep

The FAA gives Boeing 90 days to fix quality control issues. Critics say they run deep

"Worldwide flying is extremely safe, but in the United States, it's extraordinarily so," Barnett said.

In the U.S., there has not been a fatal plane crash involving a major American airline since February 2009, though there have been a handful of fatalities since then.

Brickhouse, who has studied aviation safety for over 25 years, often tells people that the biggest risk of any air journey tends to be driving to the airport.

More than 40,000 people are killed on U.S. roads each year.

"Aviation remains the safest mode of transportation," he says.

Planes are designed to keep working even if something goes wrong

Despite a missing tire, an inflamed engine, and a hydraulics issue, all three United Airlines planes were still able to safely land last week.

"Not to minimize these recent events because they each were serious, but aircraft are designed with what we call redundancy," Brickhouse says. "So if one system fails, there's a backup."

According to United, its aircraft are built to land safely with missing or damaged tires. The airline added that the plane with the hydraulics issue had two additional hydraulic systems in place for the same reason.

Flight attendants don't earn their hourly pay until aircraft doors close. Here's why

Flight attendants don't earn their hourly pay until aircraft doors close. Here's why

Pilots and crew are well-trained for emergencies.

Just like planes are built to function when something goes awry, flight crews are also extensively trained to know what to do in emergencies.

"There's a big misconception with flight attendants, that they're there to serve us drinks and help us find our seats," Brickhouse says. "The primary role of flight attendants is safety."

He adds that pilots and flight attendants practice both inside and outside the classroom on how to evacuate in water or when the plane is filled with smoke, and even what to do when a laptop catches on fire.

There are steps passengers can take to increase their own safety

Have you ever worn a polyester shirt or heels to a flight? According to Brickhouse, that's exactly what not to wear in case of an emergency.

He says natural fibers such as cotton and comfortable, closed-toe footwear provide an extra layer of protection and coverage in extreme scenarios, like a fire. He also recommends passengers eat a meal before they fly, as it helps with "survivability" if there's an extended time without food available.

Here's how to tell if your next flight is on a Boeing 737 Max 9

Here's how to tell if your next flight is on a Boeing 737 Max 9

On the flight, Brickhouse recommends making sure to listen to the safety briefings and take note of where the emergency exits are. "That only takes a few minutes and then you can get on to what you need to do," he says.

NPR's Joel Rose contributed reporting.

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Indonesia investigates how two pilots dozed off during a flight

Indonesia’s aviation authority said it would review how the country’s airlines operate night flights after both pilots on a Batik Air flight carrying 153 passengers fell asleep, causing the plane to briefly veer off course.

The flight — a journey of about three hours from Kendari to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, early on Jan. 25 — was a return leg for the crew and plane, which had spent less than an hour on the ground after arriving from Jakarta.

The plane took off from Kendari at about 8 a.m., and after reaching cruising altitude, the captain took a nap while the co-pilot manned the flight, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Committee. After about an hour, the co-pilot accidentally fell asleep, and several frantic calls from the air traffic control center and other aircraft went unanswered.

About 28 minutes later, the pilot woke up, realized the plane had veered off course and woke up the co-pilot. They course corrected, and the plane landed safely in Jakarta.

Batik Air is owned by Lion Air Group, Indonesia’s largest air travel company, which has a troubled safety record. In 2018, one of its flights fell out of the sky moments after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. In 2013, a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea while trying to land; all passengers were safely evacuated. And in 2004, 25 people were killed in a Lion Air crash in Surakarta, Indonesia.

In recent years, Lion Air Group has made significant investments into improving the safety of its flights, said Gerry Soejatman, an Indonesian aviation expert and consultant, but he added that it was unclear whether the investments were addressing the underlying issues or making quick fixes.

“Because they have a questionable history,” he said, “what we worry about is that they are overly desperate to fix it.”

Indonesia’s aviation industry has “had a bit of a troubled history,” said Keith Tonkin, the managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting company in Brisbane, Australia. Indonesia’s airlines were banned from flying in the United States and the European Union for years after a string of crashes by Indonesian carriers in 2007. The bans were lifted in the United States in 2016 and the European Union in 2018.

  • A plane was flying with 159 onboard. Then both pilots fell asleep.

The preliminary report for the Batik Air episode found that the 28-year-old co-pilot, who was not named, had not slept well the night before the flight because he had twin 1-month-olds and “had to wake up several times to help his wife take care of the babies.”

While preparing for the first leg of the round trip, he told the 32-year-old captain that he did not sleep properly and, at the captain’s offer, had a 30-minute nap on the flight from Jakarta to Kendari, the report said.

The report found that while Batik Air instructs its pilots about impairments to watch out for before a flight, including stress and fatigue, it does not provide detailed guidance about how pilots can assess these impairments. “The absence of detailed guidance and procedure might have made pilots unable to assess their physical and mental condition properly,” the report said.

It also found that while Batik Air specifies that the plane’s cockpit should be checked every 30 minutes during a flight, it does not specify who is responsible for the checks and how they should be done. Cockpit checks are usually conducted by flight attendants.

On Saturday, Indonesia’s director general of civil aviation at the Ministry of Transport, Maria Kristi Endah Murni, said that the ministry would investigate the Batik Air episode and review how all of the country’s airlines manage crew fatigue when operating night flights.

Batik Air said in a statement that both pilots involved in the flight had been temporarily suspended.

The issue of crew fatigue for airlines around the world has been exacerbated by a pilot shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Tonkin said. With many airline staff laid off during the pandemic yet to return to the industry, “there’s systematic pressure on everyone in the industry to perform at a really high level with constraints,” he said.

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TSA is prepared for a busy spring break travel season, expects travel volumes at nearly 6% above 2023

WASHINGTON – As spring break travelers prepare for their vacation getaways, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is up for the challenge and is offering practical tips to help them plan for a smooth journey as they go through the security checkpoint and take to the skies. The busy peak spring break travel season begins around March 7 and continues through March 25.

“TSA screened a record number of passengers in 2023, and we expect that trend to continue this year,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “So far in 2024, travel volumes are trending at nearly 6% above the same period in 2023. We always work closely with our airline and airport partners to plan for and meet the increasing travel demand while doing our best to maintain our wait times of 30 minutes or less in standard lanes and 10 minutes or less in TSA PreCheck ® lanes.”

TSA knows travelers put a lot of time and effort into planning the perfect spring break getaway, so we are providing the following tips and tricks to help make sure your special trip gets off to a great start:

Pack smart and remember the 3-1-1 rule. Make sure to start with an empty bag to avoid packing any prohibited items. If you’re heading to the beach, you may wonder how to pack your sunscreen. Any liquids, sunscreen containers and alcohol over 3.4 ounces must be packed in a checked bag. Liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes are allowed in carry-on bags as long as each item is 3.4 ounces or less and placed in one quart-sized bag. Each passenger is limited to one quart-size bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes.

Unloaded firearms must be packed in a locked, hard-sided case in checked baggage only and must be declared to the airline. Travelers who bring firearms or other weapons to the security checkpoint face consequences . To avoid delays, passengers should search TSA’s “ What Can I Bring? ” webpage.

Be checkpoint ready and bring a valid ID. Arrive at the checkpoint with a mobile or printed boarding pass and readily available valid ID . Listen closely to and follow instructions from TSA officers for guidance through the screening process. At many checkpoints, you may be asked to insert your physical ID into one of our Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) units, where a boarding pass is not needed. Nearly 30 airports have a second generation of CAT, called CAT-2, which adds a camera with optional facial recognition technology and smartphone reader. This technology better detects fraudulent IDs. Passengers who do not want their photos taken may ask the TSA officer for a manual ID check without losing their place in line. For more information on how TSA is using facial recognition technology, see our TSA Facial Recognition Technology Fact Sheet . Starting May 7, 2025, every air traveler 18 years of age and older must have a REAL ID -compliant driver’s license or another acceptable form of ID to fly within the United States. 2024 is a good time to get your REAL ID. Contact your state DMV for more information.

Enroll in TSA PreCheck ® . Enjoy the benefits of faster checkpoint screening with a TSA PreCheck membership. Traveling with kids? Teenagers aged 17 and under may accompany TSA PreCheck-enrolled parents or guardians through TSA PreCheck screening lanes when traveling on the same reservation and when the TSA PreCheck indicator appears on the teen’s boarding pass. Children 12 and under may still accompany an enrolled parent or guardian through the TSA PreCheck lanes any time, without restriction. Most new enrollees receive a Known Traveler Number (KTN) within five days, and membership lasts for five years. TSA PreCheck starts at $78 for a five-year membership. That’s about $15.60 per year. Online renewals are $70. Don’t delay. Enroll in TSA PreCheck today.

Arrive early and please be patient. Spring break travelers should give themselves plenty of time to account for traffic, parking, rental car returns, airline check-in, security screening and making any airport purchases before boarding a flight. The airport environment can be stressful. Remain patient, and remember everyone around you is also on their own journey. Passengers who engage in unruly behavior at the checkpoint, the gate area or inflight may face substantial penalties and possible prosecution on criminal charges.

Call ahead to request passenger support. Travelers or families of passengers with disabilities and/or medical conditions may call the TSA Cares helpline toll-free at 855-787-2227 with any questions about screening procedures and to find out what to expect at the security checkpoint. If you call at least 72 hours prior to travel, TSA Cares also arranges assistance at the checkpoint for travelers with specific needs. For more information, visit the TSA Cares website .

Ask TSA before you travel. Contact TSA over social media by sending a message to @AskTSA on X or Facebook Messenger. Passengers may also send a text directly to 275-872 (“AskTSA”) on any mobile device. An automated virtual assistant is available 24/7 to answer commonly asked questions, and AskTSA staff are available 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET for more complicated questions. Travelers may also reach the TSA Contact Center at 866-289-9673 from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on weekends/holidays. An automated service is available 24/7.

TSA encourages all passengers to remain vigilant. If You See Something. Say Something ® . Those traveling abroad for spring break should check the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Know Before You Go page to learn about required documentation.

For more information on airport security screening, visit tsa.gov .

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Boeing plane missing external panel lands in Oregon airport, United Airlines says

Friday's incident was the latest involving boeing aircraft that have raised doubts about the company's safety record.

Louis Casiano

50 injured on Boeing jet from Sydney to Auckland

Fox News’ Alex Hogan on injuries following a 'technical problem' on a LATAM Airlines flight.

A Boeing aircraft operated by United Airlines landed at an Oregon airport on Friday missing an external panel, the airline said. 

United Flight 433 departed San Francisco and landed safely at its destination, the Rogue Valley International/Medford Airport in Medord, Oregon, around 11:30 a.m., a United spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

"After the aircraft was parked at the gate, it was discovered to be missing an external panel," the airline said. "We’ll conduct a thorough examination of the plane and perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service."

The Boeing 737 was carrying 139 passengers and 6 crew members. No one was injured. 

Operations at the airport were briefly paused while a safety check on the runway was completed and no debris was found, Medford airport Director Amber Judd said. 

BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER JOHN BARNETT FOUND DEAD AFTER TESTIFYING AGAINST COMPANY

United Airlines

A United Airlines flight to Newark Liberty International Airport was diverted Friday over rowdy behavior by passengers on board. A United plane made by Boeing landed in Oregon on Friday without an external panel, the airline said.  (United Airlines)

The aircraft didn't declare an emergency at the airport as there was no indication of damage during ther flight, United said. 

An investigation will be opened to determine how the panel came apart, the airline said. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will also open an investigation, an FAA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

The 25-year-old aircraft involved in Friday's incident was first delivered to Continental Airlines, which merged with United in 2012, in December 1998, according to Airfleets, which tracks information on civil aircraft. 

FAA GIVES BOEING 90 DAYS TO DEVELOP PLAN TO ADDRESS 'QUALITY-CONTROL' ISSUES

Boeing 737 MAX

A Boeing 737 MAX-10 performs a flying display at the 54th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, on June 20, 2023.  (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo)

Boeing aircraft have been involved in a series of mid-flight incidents that have raised questions about the company's safety record. 

On Wednesday, an American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles after a possible mechanical issue aboard a Boeing 777 airplane.

On Monday, United Airlines Flight 830, which was heading from Sydney to San Francisco, was forced to turn around mid-flight due to a fuel leak. The Boeing 777-300 plane was carrying 167 passengers and 16 crew members when it returned to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport in Australia.

Hours earlier, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that was traveling from Sydney to Auckland experienced a technical issue that resulted in injuries to 50 passengers.

Boeing referred questions about Friday's incident to United. 

Aviation expert issues warning on Boeing 737 Max: Those planes are not safe

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about concerns over airline safety and the rash of Boeing mishaps. 

"I think what Americans should know is that FAA is doing everything that it can to make sure that Americans feel safe. They are these actions," she said. "We stand by those actions to make sure that there is increased safety oversight of Boeing. And that's what the American people should feel reassured by that. The FAA is doing everything that they can to make sure that we get to the bottom of it."

Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard contributed to this report. 

Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to  [email protected] .

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air travel safety record

Boeing tells senator it can’t find work record for door panel that blew out on Alaska Airlines flight: ‘We have looked extensively’

air travel safety record

Boeing has acknowledged in a letter to Congress that it cannot find records for work done on a door panel  that blew out  on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon two months ago.

“We have looked extensively and have not found any such documentation,” Ziad Ojakli, Boeing executive vice president and chief government lobbyist, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell on Friday.

The company said its “working hypothesis” was that the records about the panel’s removal and reinstallation on the 737 MAX final assembly line in Renton, Washington, were never created, even though Boeing’s systems required it.

The letter,  reported earlier by The Seattle Times , followed a contentious  Senate committee hearing  Wednesday in which Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board argued over whether the company had cooperated with investigators.

The safety board’s chair, Jennifer Homendy, testified that for two months Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on door panels on Boeing 737s and failed to provide documentation about a repair job that included removing and reinstalling the door panel.

“It’s absurd that two months later we don’t have that,” Homendy said. “Without that information, that raises concerns about quality assurance, quality management, safety management systems” at Boeing.

Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, demanded a response from Boeing within 48 hours.

Shortly after the Senate hearing, Boeing said it had given the NTSB the names of all employees who work on 737 doors — and had previously shared some of them with investigators.

In the letter, Boeing said it had already made clear to the safety board that it couldn’t find the documentation. Until the hearing, it said, “Boeing was not aware of any complaints or concerns about a lack of collaboration.”

Boeing has been under increasing scrutiny since the  Jan. 5 incident  in which a panel that plugged a space left for an extra emergency door blew off an Alaska Airlines Max 9. Pilots were able to land safely, and there were no injuries.

In a preliminary report last month, the NTSB said four bolts that help keep the door plug in place  were missing  after the panel was removed so workers could repair nearby damaged rivets last September. The rivet repairs were done by contractors working for Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, but the NTSB still does not know who removed and replaced the door panel, Homendy said Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration recently gave Boeing  90 days  to say how it will respond to quality-control issues raised by the agency and a panel of industry and government experts.  The panel  found problems in Boeing’s safety culture despite improvements made after two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

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IMAGES

  1. 2017 Sets Record for Aviation Safety

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  2. Airline Ratings Lists Everything You Need To Know About An Airline And

    air travel safety record

  3. 2017 Was The Safest Year In The History Of Commercial Air Travel

    air travel safety record

  4. Air Travel Safety Statistics

    air travel safety record

  5. Air Travel Safety Statistics

    air travel safety record

  6. 10 Air Travel Safety Tips (Ultimate Guide For 2023)

    air travel safety record

COMMENTS

  1. The world's safest airline for 2022 revealed

    8. Alaska Airlines: Alaska Airlines is ranked the eight safest airline in the world for 2022. Vortex. 9. EVA Air: The Taiwanese international airline is ninth on the list. Boeing. 10. Virgin ...

  2. Safety Record of Airlines/Aircraft

    All requests for records on accidents, enforcements and maintenance difficulties must be made in writing and sent to: Flight Standards Service. Aviation Data Systems Branch, AFS-620. PO Box 25082. Oklahoma City, OK 73125. (405)-954-4173. Last updated: Monday, August 8, 2022. A report prepared for FAA by GRA, Inc.

  3. Ranked: The 20 Safest Airlines In The World in 2023

    But if there's any good news when it comes to the airlines, it's the safety of air travel today: "I would say the airline system is incredibly safe," says Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief ...

  4. Only One US Airline Cracks The World's 10 Safest Carriers ...

    Crash records, incidence reports, audits, safety initiatives, fleet age and Covid compliance all factored into the rankings. ... The Last 10 Months Wiped Out 21 Years of Air Travel Growth 'Bye ...

  5. Safety Record of U.S. Air Carriers

    Safety Record of U.S. Air Carriers. Dec 24, 2022. The U.S. government began publishing statistics on the safety of commercial aviation in 1927. While 1978 legislation eliminated economic regulation of the U.S. airline industry, it left safety regulation very much in place.

  6. Safest Airlines in the World According to Experts

    AirlineRatings.com, a source for airline safety and product reviews, has revealed its top 20 safest carriers in the world for 2022, with five US airlines making the list. Established in 2013 ...

  7. IATA

    The all-accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry in 2021 was more than six times better than the rate for non-IOSA airlines (0.45 vs. 2.86). The 2017-2021 average of IOSA airlines versus non-IOSA airlines was nearly three times as good. (0.81 vs. 2.37). All IATA member airlines are required to maintain their IOSA registration.

  8. Out Front on Airline Safety: Two Decades of Continuous Evolution

    Out Front on Airline Safety: Two Decades of Continuous Evolution. Thursday, August 2, 2018. The commercial aviation system in the United States operates at an unprecedented level of safety. During the past 20 years, commercial aviation fatalities in the U.S. have decreased by 95 percent as measured by fatalities per 100 million passengers.

  9. IATA

    The fatality risk declined to 0.11 from 0.23 in 2021 and 0.13 for the five years, 2018-2022. IATA member airlines experienced one fatal accident in 2022, with 19 fatalities. "Accidents are rare in aviation. There were five fatal accidents among 32.2 million flights in 2022.

  10. The world's safest airlines for 2021 revealed

    Qantas held the title of world's safest airline from 2014 to 2017. In 2018, AirlineRatings said it could find no clear winner and chose to rank its top 20 equally, but once again in 2019 and ...

  11. Airplane safety has hit a new record. But these 'critical phase

    But despite this, 2023 had the lowest fatality risk and "all accident" rate on record. "At this level of safety, on average a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years ...

  12. Study: Commercial air travel is safer than ever

    In 2017, for instance, just 12 people died in the process of air travel, compared to 473 in 2018. "Even if the overall trendline is [steady], the numbers will bounce up and down," Barnett says. For that reason, he thinks looking at trends a decade at a time is a better way of grasping the full trajectory of commercial airline safety.

  13. Air transportation safety in the U.S.

    Considering only commercial passenger transportation, there has not been a fatal accident in the U.S. between 2013 and 2018; since the year 2000, the rate of fatal accidents has never risen been ...

  14. Ranked: The 25 Safest Airlines In The World

    The top-ranking low-cost U.S. carrier is Frontier, which ranks number six beating out Southwest (at number nine), Sun Country (at number 14) and Spirit (number 15) and JetBlue (number 17). Scroll ...

  15. U.S. Air Carrier Safety Data

    a Air carriers operating under 14 CFR 121, scheduled and nonscheduled service. Includes all scheduled and nonscheduled service accidents involving all-cargo carriers and commercial operators of large aircraft when those accidents occurred during 14 CFR 121 operations. Since Mar. 20, 1997, 14 CFR 121 includes aircraft with 10 or more seats ...

  16. Are planes safe right now? Experts say there's no need to worry

    National Transportation Safety Board data confirms the downward trend: Compared with 27 major accidents involving large U.S. carriers in 2008, there were just 20 in 2022, the most recent year for ...

  17. Airline & Safety Ratings

    More information on our airline and safety ratings can be found here or by simply clicking on the safety rating link next to each airline. The maximum rating an airline can get for safety is seven stars. We also provide information on the history, aircraft types and in-flight offering (meals, drinks, seating and in-flight entertainment) […]

  18. 10 Safest Airlines in the US (in 2024)

    From Hawaiian Airlines' flawless record to Delta's renowned reliability, we're exploring the carriers that make air travel a secure and stress-free experience. Join us as we unveil the US airlines that set the standard for safety in 2024. Air travel safety is crucial, and that's what this guide is all about.

  19. Why zero tolerance for airline safety lapses doesn't extend ...

    About 230 died of COVID-19. And zero died in aircraft accidents. Why it matters: Air travel is the one part of American daily life where the general public has zero tolerance for any kind of safety lapse. As we saw so vividly, the aviation industry is far from perfect in that regard. But it's still astonishingly good.

  20. PDF Safety and air travel

    The risk of disease transmission during air travel is significantly lower than during normal daily life. "Forward-facing seat configurations create a barrier to transmission similar to clear plastic barriers seen in many businesses today.". Airplanes exchange the entire volume of air 20-30 times per hour and have filters that can capture ...

  21. The world's safest airlines for 2020

    Ranked 10-20 are Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, TAP Air Portugal, SAS, Royal Jordanian, Swiss, Finnair, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and KLM. London to Sydney flight breaks world record. Notable ...

  22. If it's Boeing, are you going? Why travelers are wary of the Max line

    Many point to the excellent overall safety record of aviation in the U.S., and airlines that fly the Max say they're sticking with Boeing, even as regulators increase oversight of the company ...

  23. Why flying is still safe despite high-profile problems : NPR

    Brickhouse, who has studied aviation safety for over 25 years, often tells people that the biggest risk of any air journey tends to be driving to the airport. More than 40,000 people are killed on ...

  24. Aviation safety

    An Air Malta crewman performing a pre-flight inspection of an Airbus A320.. Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of aircraft and aviation infrastructure. The aviation industry is subject to ...

  25. Most Americans say air travel is safe despite recent scares

    Most U.S. adults believe that air travel is generally safe in the U.S., despite some doubts about whether aircraft are being properly maintained and remain free from structural problems. About 7 ...

  26. Indonesia investigates how two pilots dozed off during a flight

    Batik Air is owned by Lion Air Group, Indonesia's largest air travel company, which has a troubled safety record. In 2018, one of its flights fell out of the sky moments after takeoff, killing ...

  27. TSA is prepared for a busy spring break travel season, expects travel

    The busy peak spring break travel season begins around March 7 and continues through March 25. "TSA screened a record number of passengers in 2023, and we expect that trend to continue this year," said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. "So far in 2024, travel volumes are trending at nearly 6% above the same period in 2023.

  28. U.S. airlines warn of more Boeing delivery delays over safety crisis

    The airline industry has cut expectations for deliveries this year due to Boeing's problems, complicating their efforts to meet record travel demand.

  29. Boeing airplane losses panel, lands in Oregon

    Boeing aircraft have been involved in a series of mid-flight incidents that have raised questions about the company's safety record.. On Wednesday, an American Airlines flight was forced to make ...

  30. Boeing says can't find work record for panel that blew out

    The safety board's chair, Jennifer Homendy, testified that for two months Boeing repeatedly refused to identify employees who work on door panels on Boeing 737s and failed to provide ...