The greatest number of fatalities involving one airline in one year occurred in 2014, when 537 people died (presumably - with the wreckage unrecovered, the death toll is not entirely confirmed) in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 and the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 four months later.
The Tenerife Airport Disaster is considered to be the deadliest plane crash in aviation history. On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport in the Canary Islands. The crash was caused by a series of miscommunications and errors, which resulted in the death of 583 people.
Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearance, also called MH370 disappearance, disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538 and the 1950 Australian National Airways Douglas DC-4 crash, with 29 fatalities each, remain Australia's worst civil air accidents and second-worst air accidents.
While Qantas has never had a fatal jet airliner accident, the Australian national airline suffered losses in its early days before the widespread adoption of jets in civilian aviation. These were mainly biplanes or flying boats servicing routes in Queensland and New Guinea.
In 2019, 220 aircraft were involved in accidents in Australia, with a further 154 aircraft involved in serious incidents (an incident with a high probability of becoming an accident). There were 35 fatalities from 22 fatal accidents.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China.
Some 83 aircraft have been declared “missing” since 1948, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. The list includes planes capable of carrying more than 14 passengers and where no trace — bodies or debris — has ever been found. Related Graphic: Where Could Flight 370 Be? >>
4 Qatar Airways
Like Etihad, the airline has never had a fatal accident, and its only hull losses have come about due to hangar fires during maintenance. Qatar Airways' planes, particularly its widebodies, are some of the industry's newest designs, and its fleet as a whole has an average age of 10.9 years old.
Cecelia Cichan (Northwest Airlines Flight 255)
Around 156 people died, including two people on the ground. Cichan's parents and brother (aged 6) were among the fatalities. Out of the deadly plane crashes with one survivor, this crash ranks number one.
Airlines have been operating near empty planes to keep their highly coveted slots at congested airports. Since the start of the pandemic, the broader public has become accustomed to seeing the term "ghost flight" pop up every now and then in news reports, often accompanied by general outrage at their existence.
Since the earth is three-dimensional, it would be impossible not to fly in an arc. Another reason that planes would choose to fly in a trajectory that resembles an arc is to account for the amount of traffic that will be in the air. Like highway systems, air space experiences a great deal of traffic.
Flying empty planes gives airlines access to slots they hope will, in time, be filled with fuller flights. Slots are allocated twice a year, in the summer and winter period, at slot allocation conferences organized by ICAO. Airlines wanting slots must submit a request for them 30 days before the conference begins.
"In a nutshell, the size of an airplane is not in any way linked to safety," explains Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StretegivAero Research. "Rather it's all down to the regular maintenance regimes to ensure that airplanes comply with regulations to fly and operate safely.
"Seventy years after her first flight as Queen aboard the BOAC Argonaut 'Atalanta,' Queen Elizabeth II's final flight is the most tracked flight in Flightradar24 history," Flightradar24 Director of Communications said in an email.
“Air America” was an air transport and logistics enterprise owned and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. The agency denied it's involvement in the airline for years, eventually selling its interest in 1978.
Aircraft age is not a safety factor. However, if the aircraft is older and hasn't been refurbished properly, it may cause flyers some inconvenience such as overheating, faulty air conditioning, or faulty plumbing in the lavatory. More important than an aircraft's age is its history.
Vatican City
It's the world's smallest country, with a population of just around 800. There isn't much space for an aircraft to land, nor is there any river or sea, for an alternative form of transport. It's also one of the few countries that can be covered exclusively on foot.
Planes sometimes leave early if the pilot makes the call, but generally, flights that depart ahead of schedule are just a few minutes early. This shouldn't cause a problem as passengers are expected to be at the gate 15-30 minutes before and should have boarded the plane at least 15 minutes ahead of the departure time.
And while this fits the bill as far as the Australian airline's outstanding reputation for safety is concerned, it is not strictly true. The airline has had eight fatal accidents, all before 1951, and with four taking place during the Second World War while Qantas was operating planes on behalf of the Allies.
Indeed, one aircraft was shot down. In 1951, a de Havilland australia DHA-3 Drover crashed off the coast of New Guinea after the centre engine's propeller failed. The pilot and all six passengers were killed. Qantas has not since had a fatal accident, and only a handful incidents of note.
Roughly 100,000 flights take off and land every day all over the globe. Say an average length of a flight is two hours; that would mean that six million people fly somewhere every day. That's nearly 0.1% of the entire world's population.
A ghost flight has no formal definition but is generally considered to be a flight that operates on less than 10% passenger capacity. With aviation's environmental footprint under close scrutiny, it is understandable that the issue of such flights has been getting attention.