2017 was considered the safest year ever in commercial aviation history, nevertheless the events in 2018 were a reminder that safety should not be taken for granted. Worldwide in 2018 there were 530 fatalities in 11 fatal accidents, setting us back to a level not experienced since 2015.
The detailed figures for Europe show that there were no fatal accidents involving commercial passenger airlines, however 20 persons were killed in a fatal accident, involving a sightseeing flight using a historic aircraft in the Swiss Alps.
The key message from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is that we should never be complacent with safety and remain persistent in our efforts devoted to protecting passengers and citizens. Furthermore, EASA is committed to the collaborative safety efforts to ensure that risks at European Level and worldwide are identified and mitigated effectively.
Figures show that there were 11 fatal accidents and 530 fatalities at a global level for commercial air transport involving large aeroplanes. Despite there being the same number of fatal accidents in 2018 compared with the previous year, there were the highest number of fatalities since 2015.
Looking at the number of fatalities since 1970 the number of fatalities in 2018 is still significantly below even recent historical figures in the 1990s and 2000s. The technological advances in aviation and the industry s efforts to introduce Safety Management Systems (SMS) helps to maintain aviation as a very safe form of transport.
There were no fatal accidents in commercial airline operations involving an operator from the EASA Member States. However, there was one fatal accident in commercial operations with aeroplanes, which was a Junkers JU-52 that crashed in elevated terrain in the Alps of Switzerland on 4 August 2018 with the loss of 20 lives. This accident involved a historic aircraft built in 1939, although the aircraft was undertaking a commercial flight it was a unique event compared with traditional airline operations.
