The year 2017 entered history as the safest in commercial aviation ever with only 50 fatalities out of 4.1 billion passengers. Tragically, 2018 resulted in 530 fatalities in 11 deadly accidents. 2018 has become the worst in terms of fatalities in commercial aviation since 2015.

Talking about Europe, EASA Preliminary Safety Review 2018 revealed that there were no fatal crashes of commercial airlines’ aircraft. However, 20 people were killed in a fatal accident involving a sightseeing flight using a historic aircraft in the Swiss Alps.

At a global level, there were 11 fatal accidents and 530 fatalities for commercial air transport involving large planes. The most deadly accident appeared to be in October when Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed into the sea with 189 people on board.

EASA highlighted that looking back through the last 50 years, now the numbers of fatalities are significantly lower. However, safety should never be taken for granted.