Two large passenger plane crashes occurred late last year, officially ending 2024 as the deadliest year in civil aviation since 2018.
The first accident involved an Azerbaijan Airlines airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing at least 38 of the 67 people on board.
A U.S. official told CNN that early signs suggest Russian anti-aircraft systems may have shot down the airliner.
Reuters also reported, citing unnamed Azerbaijani sources familiar with the investigation, that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems.
In the second accident, a South Korean airline, Jeju Air, crashed into an airport in southwestern South Korea on December 29, with only two of the 181 people on board surviving.
The plane rolled onto its belly on the runway at Muan International Airport before bursting into flames. Emergency services said the two survivors, both crew members, one man and one woman, were extracted from the tail of the plane, the only part of the plane that remained intact.
According to CNN, this was the worst air disaster to hit South Korea since 1997.
Two recent crashes have pushed the number of people killed on passenger planes to 318 last year, according to data compiled by Cirium.
This is by far the highest death toll since the first of two Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018, when more than 500 people died.
The South Korean government has announced that it will conduct nationwide inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft following the fatal accident at Muan International Airport.
Jeju Air plans to cut 1,878 flights in the first quarter of 2025 to improve operational safety following the fatal accident, Airline Geeks added.
The Azerbaijan Airlines incident is still under investigation.
Despite these incidents, 90% of Travel News readers said in a recent poll that customers are not asking more questions about aircraft safety. Only the remaining 10% have it.
Safest airlines for 2025
Meanwhile, airline safety and product ratings website AirlineRatings.com has announced its 2025 Safest Airlines.
This website is based on significant incidents, fleet age, fleet size, accident rate, fatalities, profitability, IOSA certification, ICAO country audit path, pilot skills and training over the past two years. We analyzed 385 airlines.
According to the website, the top 25 safest airlines in 2025 are:
Air New Zealand Qantas Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates Virgin Australia Etihad Airways ANA EVA Air Korean Air Alaska Airlines Turkish Airlines TAP Portugal Hawaiian Airlines American Airlines SAS British Airways Iberia Finnair Lufthansa/Swiss JAL Air Canada Delta Airlines Vietnam Airlines United aviation
