Last year was by some measures the safest in the history of commercial aviation, despite two high-profile crashes involving Malaysia Airlines aircraft in which hundreds of people were killed, a leading industry body said today.
While more people died in air accidents in 2014 than the average in recent years, the number of fatal accidents compared with the total number of flights was a record low, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
"While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014, the data show that flying continues to improve its safety performance," said Tony Tyler, IATA's director general and chief executive officer, in a statement.
That translated into an accident rate, measured in "hull losses" per 1 million flights, of 0.23, or the equivalent of one for every 4.4 million flights. The 2013 rate was 0.41 and the five-year average rate 0.58 per million flights.
"To the flying public an air tragedy is an air tragedy, regardless of how it is classified," said Tyler. "In 2014 we saw a reduction in the number of fatal accidents, and that would be true even if we were to include MH17 in the total."
"This includes better sharing of critical information about security risks to civil aviation," he said.
An extensive search in the southern Indian Ocean, where satellite data showed that the Boeing 777-200ER ended up after being diverted from its original flight path, has not found any sign of the plane. An investigation report that was released on Sunday did not reveal anything new.
This will improve the ability to track commercial aircraft globally and find remote crash sites much faster.
China's Marriage Rate Lowest In 12 Years, Expected To Get Worse Chinese Woman, 20, Reports Parents To Police After They Install Spy Camera In Her Bedroom Indian Firms Told To Be Careful While Doing Business With Chinese Firms Parents Gave Names Of Interns, Doctors To CBI In Kolkata Horror: Sources How Extreme Weather Is Leading To Rise In Child Marriages In Pakistan 3 Days After Big Order On Deposits With SBI And PNB, Karnataka Hits Pause "Far From Over" But Joe Biden Has High Hopes For Gaza Ceasefire Indian Student In UK Develops Revolutionary Carbon-Extracting Biomaterial Video: Woman Tries To Jump Off Mumbai's Atal Setu, Saved By Driver, Cops Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.