Commercial aviation accidents statistics -
Plane accidents evolutions in history

2. Drop in aircraft accident rates

Although the number of accidents per flight has been decreasing with time, the number of fatalities per year has been variable, without dropping.

Aircraft accidents are less likely to occur today than 40 years ago. Nevertheless, the growing number of aircraft in operation and their increasing capacity cannot result in a reduction of onboard fatalities.

(*)External fatalities include on-ground fatalities as well as fatalities on other aircraft involved.

3. Scheduled passenger flights are less likely to be involved in accidents than other types of flights

Statistics confirm it relentlessly: regular passenger flights have a significantly lower accident rate compared to other types of flights, such as charter, cargo, ferry, test, training, or demonstration flights. This disparity is attributed to the strict safety and maintenance protocols that regular commercial flights adhere to. In comparison, charter flights, often arranged for less frequented destinations, might have less stringent safety measures. Test and training flights, inherently riskier, involve complex maneuvers and often unforeseen conditions, thus increasing the potential for accidents.

The above graph also shows that scheduled passenger operations are 5 to 6 times more common than other types of operations.