Last year was the safest ever for airline passengers, according to a new study.
There were only two fatal accidents in 2017, killing 13 people combined, both involving small turbo-prop aircraft, according to the Dutch-based aviation consultancy, To70. There were no fatal crashes by jets in passenger service throughout the world, the study says.
Two crashes that occurred on New Year’s Eve, a seaplane in Sydney which killed six, and a Cessna Caravan that crashed in Costa Rica, killing all 12 on board, including 10 Americans, are not included in the study. That’s because both aircraft weighed under 5,700kg, the threshold for the report.
In 2016, 271 people died in seven fatal air travel events.
The chances of a plane being involved in a fatal accident are now 1 in 16 million, according to the lead researcher for the study, Adrian Young.
