The rate of commercial airline accidents
declined from 1.79 per 1 million flights in 2015 to 1.61 in 2016, according to
the International Air Transport Association. The rate of major accidents,
however, rose from 0.32 per 1 million flights in 2015 to 0.39 in 2016. Ten
fatal accidents with 268 deaths occurred in 2016, below the annual average of
the previous five years of 13.4 fatal accidents with 371 fatalities. "We
did take a step back on some key parameters from the exceptional performance of
2015," according to IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.
"However, flying is still the safest form of long-distance travel."