Plane crashes down in 2024, but not deaths

The number of commercial aviation accidents in 2024 compared to the number of flights was below the average of the last five years, the main airline organization announced on Wednesday, February 26, but more people died. Accidents of business, tourist or military aircraft are excluded from these statistics.

There was one accident for every 880,000 flights in 2024, while the average between 2020 and 2024 was one accident for every 810,000 flights, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But of these 46 accidents in 2024 recorded by the organization, seven were fatal, causing 244 victims, compared to 72 deaths in 2023 and 144 on average between 2020 and 2024. Of these 244 victims, 179 died on December 29, 2024, during the crash of a plane of the low-cost airline Jeju Air in South Korea, the worst air disaster in the country.

Tailstrikes , when the tail of the aircraft hits the runway, and runway excursions were the most frequently reported accidents in 2024, "underscoring the importance of safety measures during takeoff and landing," IATA wrote.