Statistically, flying remains by far the safest form of travel, with continuing claims that the biggest risk of any journey is on a drive to the airport. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), trade association for the world’s airlines, reported in February that, on several parameters, 2023 was the safest year yet for flying. There were 37 million aircraft movements, an increase of 17% on the previous year, with no hull losses or fatal accidents involving passenger jet aircraft. However, there was an accident involving a turboprop plane which resulted in 72 fatalities.

Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said that 2023 saw the lowest fatality risk and “all accident rate” on record, but that the turboprop incident was a reminder “that we can never take safety for granted”. He also referred to two high-profile accidents in the first month of 2024 that show that “even if flying is among the safest activities a person can do, there is always room to improve”.

The first early-year accident involved an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, when a door came off 20 minutes into the flight as the plane climbed from Portland, airport, Oregon, leaving a large hole in the side of the aircraft. The pilots were able to make an emergency landing back in Portland and no serious injuries were sustained. But also in January, five people lost their lives at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, when a small coastguard plane was struck by a Japan Airlines flight coming in to land. All 379 passengers and crew in the larger plane escaped safely. Since then, though, there have been several further troubling in-flight incidents, some of which have been put down to climate change turbulence. In May, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 hit severe turbulence and plunged more than 6,000 feet in less than three minutes, leaving one person dead and more than thirty injured, some seriously. And a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 flight from London to San Francisco was forced to return to Heathrow after the windscreen cracked midflight. So, though flying remains the safest way to travel, passengers and crews worldwide may be reassured to hear Walsh say: “We will continue to make flying ever safer.”