Global air crash deaths fall by more than half in 2019

FRANKFURT, Germany – Far fewer people died in major air crashes around the world last year. Statistics compiled by aviation consulting firm To70 in the Netherlands show that the number of deaths fell by more than half in 2019, to 257 fatalities in eight accidents all year. That’s significantly less than the 534 air fatalities in 2018. The 2019 death toll rose in late Decem- ber after a plane crash in Kazakhstan that took 12 lives. All in all, however, the numbers show that flying got safer last year. There was just one fatal accident for every 5.58 million takeoffs.