Data Shows 2019 Was Third Safest Year in Aviation History

A new study found that 2019 was the third safest year in recorded aviation history.

According to Deutsche Welle, the report from Germany’s Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Center (JACDEC) revealed Monday that 293 people died in air accidents last year, which is a drastic drop from the 559 deaths recorded in 2018.

The number would have been much lower if it wasn’t for the Boeing 737 MAX crash that took place in Ethiopia in March, which left 157 people dead. The Ethiopian accident was responsible for over half of all aviation fatalities in 2019.

The JACDEC found that 2019 was the third safest year for air travel since World War II when measured by the number of victims. The data found that 40 people died in air accidents in both 2013 and 2017, the lowest in recorded history.

Over the last 10 years, the German aviation research company found the average number of people who died in plane crashes per year was 484, a stark drop from the average from the previous decade of 876 per year.

In response to the JACDEC, the German Aviation Association (BDL) revealed there “were no accidents in either German or European Union airspace” in 2019.

In December, at least 12 people were killed when a Bek Air plane crashed during takeoff in Kazakhstan. The aircraft began to lose altitude and struck a concrete fence before colliding with a two-story building.