Airline safety is always a major focus for Flight International at the start of each year, as we review the accidents and incidents from the previous 12-month period in our annual report.
An already heightened level of public attention placed on the topic after late-December crashes involving an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 and a Jeju Air Boeing 737 rose further when the first fatal loss to involve a US carrier since 2009 happened over Washington, DC.
Barely a week after President Donald Trump had occupied the White House at the start of his second term in office, the mid-air collision between a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet on its approach to land at Ronald Reagan National airport shocked America.
Some questioned whether the military’s routine use of a low-altitude flight corridor that put its rotorcraft in close proximity to commercial jets effectively made this a tragedy waiting to happen.
Others pointed to the nation’s reliance on an ageing air traffic control system and the multiple previous near-misses and runway incursions that have been recorded at US airports over recent years.
Trump, meanwhile, even pointed the finger at the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to boost diversity and inclusion via its recent recruitment policy as possibly having contributed, and postulated about the actions of the helicopter crew within only hours of the accident.
As detailed in our comprehensive review of airline safety during 2024 – including a 12-page listing of all fatal accidents and numerous significant non-fatal events – the worst does sometimes happen, but thankfully only sometimes.
But in an age when many crashes and their aftermaths are captured on CCTV footage or filmed via mobile phone, a perception can develop that things are getting worse, or that losses are becoming more frequent.
We cover 16 fatal accidents that occurred in 2024, in which 333 people lost their lives; 217 of those within the year’s final week. The highly professional actions of pilots and cabin crew in some instances – and a slice of good fortune during others – meant that many others survived mishaps.
Meanwhile, the companies who manufacture today’s crop of highly safe and efficient airliners continue their post-pandemic drive to boost output, with Airbus and Boeing holding combined order backlogs for more than 14,200 new jets.
Last year they delivered a combined 1,114, as Boeing especially battled headwinds due to enhanced scrutiny after a manufacturing lapse involving missing door-plug bolts on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9, and a disruptive strike by a machinists union.
Avoiding any repeat of such slips while getting work back on track will be vital in 2025, while the “big two” must also increasingly start to prepare for new programme launches, and the delivery of yet-more efficient machines from as little as a decade from now.
Could the coming year bring the excitement of renewed rivalry around the future of air travel? Perhaps, but whatever comes next must be more fuel-efficient, easier to manufacture – and most importantly of all, safe.
