The number of aviation accidents involving large Western-made commercial jets declined in 2023 – and none caused fatalities, the first time that has happened since Boeing started collecting safety data decades ago.
Airlines globally suffered 11 accidents involving the Western aircraft types last year, down from 25 accidents the prior year, according to the latest version of the US manufacturer’s annual Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents
The report only indexes accidents through 2023, and the period of fatality-free operations of Western jets ended on 2 January this year, when a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 collided with a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 in Tokyo, killing five people on the turboprop.
“Accident rates continue to decline to historic lows, despite air traffic nearly returning to pre-pandemic levels,” says Boeing vice-president of enterprise safety Elisabeth Martin. “2023 was one of the safest years on record.”
Boeing’s safety report accounts for accidents involving Western-made jet aircraft weighing more than 27,216kg (60,000lb) – encompassing all Boeing and Airbus types and regional jets with at least 70 seats, but excluding turboprops.
The 11 accidents last year neither caused fatalities nor total aircraft losses, according to Boeing. The world’s airlines operated 31.3 million flights in 2023 – slightly fewer than they did in 2019 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic – equating to a 2023 accident rate of 0.35 per million flights.
“There were zero fatal accidents in 2023 – the first year without a fatal accident since data collection began in 1959,” says Boeing’s report.
The 2023 accidents include an All Nippon Airways 767-300 Freighter that struck a cargo vehicle on the ground, and an A320 operated by FlyCAA, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that lost part of its elevator after take-off. Also last year, a Delta Air Lines 717 landed in Charlotte without its nose gear extended, a United Airlines 767-300 suffered “substantial” fuselage damage while landing in Houston, and a FedEx 757 made a gear-up landing in Chattanooga.
The 2023 data shows continuation of a long-term trend toward improved safety; the accident rate declined 45% between the 2004-2013 period and the 2014-2023 period.
During the 10 years ending in 2023, airlines suffered 279 accidents, including 28 fatal events that killed a combined 1,140 people. Of those, 706 died due to accidents involving in-flight “loss of control”, Boeing says. Two 737 Max 8 crashes – that of a Lion Air jet in 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines jet in 2019 – killed a combined 346 people.
