2012 named safest year ever to travel by plane

Updated
2012 named safest year ever to travel by plane
2012 named safest year ever to travel by plane

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Got a fear of flying? You'll be pleased to learn, then, that plane passenger safety levels are increasing - and 2012 was the safest year ever in air travel.

Figures released by flight advisory service Ascend reveal the number of fatal crashes and the number of people killed in those crashes in 2012 fell sharply compared with 2011, according to the Daily Telegraph.

In fact, the fatal accident rate of one per 2.5 million flights made 2012 the safest year on record, and nearly twice as safe as 2011.

Figures showed that there were 15 planes crashes involving deaths in 2012 compared with 25 in 2011; and the number of people killed in fatal accident crashes this year was 362 compare with 403 last year.

Nearly three-quarter of the deaths in 2012 occurred in two incidents.

A Bhoja Air Boeing 737 crashed near Islamabad airport in Pakistan on 20 April, kiling 127 people.

Then, on 6 June, 153 people, plus 10 on the ground, died when a DANA Air plane crashed while landing at Lagos airport in Nigeria.

Paul Hayes, head of safety at Ascend, told the Daily Telegraph: "2012 does not represent a new norm for the world airlines.

"Nonetheless, airline fatal accident rates have been steadily improving and on average, operations are now twice as safe as they were 15 years ago. About 335 fewer passengers and crew were killed each year in the last decade than during the 1990s."


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