Air Travel: 2014 Among Safest Years For Aviation, No Really


Although last year was not a banner year for commercial airliners in terms of the optics, a report out suggests that air travel in 2014 was among the safest. Despite a string of high-profile plane crashes, the number of airline accidents were among the lowest in over a decade, according to a Vox news report.

Who can forget the ominous images peppered in the media and the grisly footage that played over and over again last year when several Asian airliners went missing or crashed? Some incidents are still under investigation. However, a chart shows that air travel is still among the safest form of transportation globally.

Harro Ranter, founder and director of Aviation Safety Network, which runs an independent database, weighed in.

“Remarkably, 2014 has the lowest number for passenger flight accidents in modern aviation history.”

[Note: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 is not included in the final tallies for airline fatalities and incidents because it is presumed the aircraft was shot down, and did not crash.]

The chart shows that since 2005, the general trend of airline crashes has been down and to the right. The annual decline in air travel incidents, injuries, and deaths are related to improvements in airport infrastructure, technology, legislation, training, and global communication among air carriers. To demonstrate how safe air travel is, there were 213 motorcycle fatalities versus.07 plane deaths per million travelers from 2009-2013, according to Research and Transportation Economics.

The video above demonstrates through real numbers how air travel is becoming safer as the years go by, despite the recent losses of life over several commercial brands. Check out the footage and see if you are convinced. Share your thoughts below.

[Image via BBC]

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