The report also explained how fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019 led to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX
Kazakhstan's emergencies committee shows rescuers working at the site of a passenger plane crash outside Almaty. (Photo by HO / Kazakhstan's emergencies committee / AFP)
The number of people killed in airplane crashes of commercial plan fell by more than half in 2019, as compared to the previous year which claimed lives of 534 people in different 13 fatal accidents, a report by an aviation consulting firm said.
As per the report, 257 people died in eight fatal accidents in 2019. The death toll of previous year rose after the Bek Air Fokker 100 crashed in late December in Kazakhstan, killing 12 people. The worst crash of 2019 involved an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane that crashed on March 10, killing 157 people.
The firm’s annual compilation of accident statistics stressed that aviation needs to keep its focus on the basics of having well-designed and well-constructed aircraft flown by well-trained crews.
Advertisement
The report also explained how fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019 led to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX, leading to questions and doubts on the judgement taken by the aviation authorities that approved aviation designs derived from older ones.
Despite of that, the group now expects the 737 MAX to eventually gain permission to fly again in 2020.
Last year may have seen fewer deaths but did not equal the historic low of 2017, which saw only two fatal accidents, involving regional turboprops, that resulted in the loss of 13 lives.
(With input from agencies)
Advertisement
