Commercial Plane Accident Fatalities Drop to Lowest Level in a Decade

Aircraft accident fatalities fell to a 10-year low in 2013, with 224 deaths involving large commercial planes compared with 703 annually on average from 2003 to 2012.

Last year there were 17 aircraft accidents worldwide involving such planes, compared with a yearly average of 27, the European Aviation Safety Agency said in a statement today. There were no airliner fatalities in EASA member states, which include European Union countries and Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, EASA said.

The encouraging statistics come at the beginning of the 100th anniversary of commercial aviation this year, EASA said. Last year’s performance was the best for safety in aviation history, EASA said.

(Editors: Robert Valpuesta, Thomas Mulier)