2017 was safest year ever for airlines

2017 marked a banner year for commercial aviation: Zero deaths in commercial passenger jet service, and only a few in other crashes, continuing a downward trend since 1997.

The Aviation Safety Network, which records air crashes and incidents worldwide, listed only 10 fatal accidents last year, 5 of them involving cargo flights and 5 small turboprop passenger planes. ASN attributes the improvement to "continuing safety-driven efforts by international aviation organizations."

The dropping numbers contrast with a huge expansion over that time in international air travel. Overall, the numbers represent one fatal accident for every 7.36 million flights.

Here's a table for this century so far. Note that 2014 and 2015 each include major crashes in which over 100 people died on planes destroyed by bombs or missiles, rather than aircraft accidents. In the past century, numbers were often higher, despite much lower passenger volumes; the 1970s were the most dangerous decade.

Photo: Angelo DeSantis/Wikimedia