Thursday, April 3, 2014

L.A.M.'s Statistical Dump of Fatal Air Crashes Since the 1980s



Today’s blogpost is inspired by a friend who asked, “John, what is the least safe airline”




I did some research and have compiled a list of Air Crashes1 since the 1980s so that we can come to some form of conclusion



Ranking of Carriers by Fatal Incidents
Rank
Airline
Carrier’s HQ
#o f Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
Aeroflot
Russia
11
1157
2
American Airlines2
USA
9
639
3
China Airlines
Taiwan
6
640
4
Garuda Indonesia
Indonesia
6
310
5
Air France
France
5
484
6
Turkish Airlines
Turkey
5
194
7
Delta Air Lines
USA
5
231
8
Northwest Airlines
USA
4
189
9
Thai Airways
Thailand
4
243
10
Philippine Airlines
Philippines
4
76
11
Avianca
Columbia
4
503
12
Indian Airlines
India
4
349
13
Korean Air
South Korea
4
322
14
United Airlines
USA
3
145
15
Cubana de Aviación
Cuba
3
166
16
CAAC
China
3
144
17
Austral Lineas Aereas
Argentina
3
127
18
Saudi Arabia Airlines
Saudia Arabia
3
615
19
LOT Polish Airlines
Poland
3
271
20
Asiana Airlines
South Korea
3
83
21
Merpati Nusantara
Indonesia
3
72
22
China Eastern Airlines
China
3
59
23
Wideroe
Norway
3
57


 Based on number of fatal accidents, Aeroflot comes up tops with 11 fatal accidents, followed by American Airlines  (which includes subsidiaries such USAir and Air California). China Airlines, Garuda Airlines, Air France and Turkish Airlines rounds up the top 6.




Ranking of Carriers by Number of Fatalities
Rank
Airline
Carrier's HQ
#o f Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
Aeroflot
Russia
11
1157
2
China Airlines
Taiwan
6
640
3
American Airlines
USA
9
639
4
Saudi Arabia Airlines
Saudia Arabia
3
615
5
Japan Airlines
Japan
2
544
6
Avianca
Columbia
4
503
7
Air France
France
5
484
8
Indian Airlines
India
4
349
9
Korean Air
South Korea
4
322
10
Garuda Indonesia
Indonesia
6
310
11
TAM Airlines
Brazil
2
298
12
Air Africa
Congo
1
297
13
Kenya Airways
Kenya
2
283
14
Nigeria Airways
Nigeria
1
275
15
LOT Polish Airlines
Poland
3
271
16
Gulf Air
Bahrain
2
263
17
Arrow Air
Canada
1
256
18
ADC Airlines
Nigeria
2
249
19
Thai Airways
Thailand
4
243
20
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia
1
239



Again Aeroflot is up tops with the most number of fatalities. China Airlines comes in second, leap frogging American Airlines due to the 1994 Airbus A300 crash while landing in Nagoya Japan which saw fatalities of 264 out of 271 passengers and crew members.3  American Airlines, Saudi Arabia Airlines and Japan Airlines rounds up the top 5.

Ranking of Carrier's Origin Country by Number of Fatal Incidents
Rank
Carrier's HQ
# of Airlines with Fatal Accidents
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
USA
41
60
2576
2
Russia
19
30
2204
3
China
10
22
1620
4
Indonesia
5
13
744
5
Brazil
9
12
848
6
France
4
9
561
7
Congo
8
9
678
8
Nigeria
8
9
1088
9
Columbia
5
9
868
10
UK
8
9
308
11
Philippines
5
8
345
12
Spain
7
8
493
13
South Korea
2
7
405
14
Iran
6
7
529
15
Turkey
3
7
440
16
India
3
7
584
17
Thailand
3
6
334
18
Nepal
5
6
106
19
Pakistan
5
6
369
20
Argentina
3
5
214
 
Based on where the carrier is headquartered, USA has the highest number of fatal accidents. They also have a very high number of carriers with fatal accidents with a number of small and regional airlines in the mix. The rest of the top 5 are made up of 3 of the 4 BRIC countries and Indonesia which has had a low safety record among its carriers


Ranking of Carrier's Origin Country by Number of Fatalities
Rank
Carrier's HQ
# of Airline with Fatal Accidents
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
USA
41
60
2576
2
Russia
19
30
2204
3
China
10
22
1620
4
Nigeria
8
9
1088
5
Columbia
5
9
868
6
Brazil
9
12
848
7
Indonesia
5
13
744
8
Congo
8
9
678
9
Saudia Arabia
1
3
615
10
India
3
7
584
11
France
4
9
561
12
Japan
1
2
544
13
Iran
6
7
529
14
Spain
7
8
493
15
Turkey
3
7
440
16
South Korea
2
7
405
17
Egypt
2
3
379
18
Pakistan
5
6
369
19
Philippines
5
8
345
20
Thailand
3
6
334


Based on where the carrier is headquartered, USA has the highest number of fatalities, followed by Russia, China, Nigeria and Columbia.



Ranking of Countries by Number of Fatal Accidents
Rank
Country of Crash
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
USA
58
2597
2
Russia
27
1815
3
China
17
1144
4
Indonesia
13
843
5
Brazil
11
797
6
Congo
9
569
7
Spain
9
777
8
Philippines
8
345
9
Nepal
8
132
10
India
7
584
11
Nigeria
7
801
12
Thailand
7
619
13
France
6
410
14
Turkey
6
258
15
Columbia
6
481
16
UK
6
154
17
Canada
6
545
18
Venezuela
6
280
19
Japan
5
813
20
Pakistan
5
357

The above table lists the countries where the highest numbers of fatal accidents have occurred. Not surprisingly, countries where there are heavy air traffic such as USA, Russia, China, Indonesia and Brazil tops the list.



Ranking of Countries by Number of Fatalities
Rank
Country of Crash
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
USA
58
2597
2
Russia
27
1815
3
China
17
1144
4
Indonesia
13
843
5
Japan
5
813
6
Nigeria
7
801
7
Brazil
11
797
8
Spain
9
777
9
Thailand
7
619
10
India
7
584
11
Saudi Arabia
2
576
12
Congo
9
569
13
Canada
6
545
14
Columbia
6
481
15
Iran
5
418
16
Taiwan
5
416
17
France
6
410
18
Kazakhstan
3
370
19
Pakistan
5
357
20
Indian Ocean
2
354

If you list the countries by number of fatalities, Japan enters the top 5 due to Japan Airlines Flight 123 in 1985, which was the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history with 520 fatalities on a flight with 524 people. 4




Ranking of Year by Number of Fatal Accidents
Rank
Year
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
2011
20
479
2
2010
20
808
3
2009
16
721
4
1988
16
662
5
1996
15
1792
6
1982
15
845
7
1989
15
1108
8
2007
14
745
9
1993
13
565
10
1987
12
723
11
1999
12
441
12
1992
12
793
13
1980
12
1069
14
1983
12
719
15
1985
11
1548
16
2008
11
496
17
2002
11
631
18
1997
11
912
19
2013
10
195
20
1994
10
843


Since 1980, the worst year on record with the most number of fatal accidents is 2011, followed by 2010 in second place. This is in line with the trend where we see increased number of flights every year.



Ranking of Year by Number of Fatalities
Rank
Year
# of Fatal Accidents
# of Fatalities
1
1996
15
1792
2
1985
11
1548
3
1989
15
1108
4
1980
12
1069
5
1997
11
912
6
2000
10
873
7
1982
15
845
8
1994
10
843
9
1998
10
840
10
2010
20
808
11
1992
12
793
12
2006
9
787
13
2005
10
769
14
2007
14
745
15
1987
12
723
16
2009
16
721
17
1983
12
719
18
1991
9
681
19
1988
16
662
20
2002
11
631


 

However, if you were to compare by number of fatalities, the 2010s do not appear in the top 20 list. this shows that despite increasing air travel, our safety record appears to be improving.

In conclusion, air travel has become a lot of safer since the 1980s and we should quit worrying.

L.A.M.


PS: You can download the raw data from here.

1 Excludes cases where airplane crash is due to hijacking, missile attacks and bombings. Also excludes crashes where there are no fatalities
2 Includes acquired subsidiaries such as USAir and Air California

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123
5 Data compiled from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_commercial_aircraft
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