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Boeing is in a full-blown crisis and can’t escape the negative headlines. Latest incident: Over the weekend, the US planemaker asked airlines to control the button on the pilot seats of 787s. There was also an incident on a flight from Sydney to Auckland before. The focus is particularly on the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, which suffered a near miss in January when part of the fuselage came off the plane shortly after takeoff.
The fiasco at Boeing, one of the central names in aviation, affects the entire aviation industry. After all, safety is his top priority. The “I won’t ride if it’s Boeing” joke – roughly translated: “I won’t ride if it’s a Boeing” – is suddenly on the rise again. When incidents occur on flights, the population’s fear of flying increases, as psychologists have confirmed for years.
New decline in deaths last year
Here’s the thing: Flying is safer than ever. According to Aviation Safety Network data, 179 people died in plane crashes last year. A new decline! The previous record was broken in 2017 with 283 deaths.
For comparison: 180 passengers fit on the Airbus A320-200, Switzerland’s second largest aircraft on short- and medium-haul flights. And another comparison: According to the new 2023 traffic accident statistics from the Federal Statistical Office, 236 people died in traffic accidents on Swiss roads alone last year.
Many more passengers, many fewer deaths since 1970
The Aviation Safety Network collects civil, military and general aviation incidents into a database. Blick evaluated data on all deaths since 1970. Since then flying has become cheaper and therefore affordable to wider segments of the population. The result: Air travel safety has improved significantly over the last 50 years. In the 1970s, approximately 2,200 passengers lost their lives in accidents or hijackings.
That number has fallen every decade since then, falling to just over 300 deaths per year in the first four years of the 2020s. And this is despite the fact that passenger numbers have increased significantly over the last 50 years. Airlines carried more than 4.5 billion passengers worldwide in 2019, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN aviation agency. This is more than 14 times the number of people in 1970.
“Even small incidents are constantly investigated.”
Roman Boller (34), spokesman for the professional association of Swiss pilots, was not surprised by these figures: “The passenger plane is and remains the safest means of transport. Aviation is characterized by the fact that even smaller incidents are always investigated consistently and conclusions are drawn to further improve safety.” In addition, aircraft currently in flight are generally more reliable than their predecessors and are easier to operate in normal operation.
What about the broken Boeing 737 Max plane? According to Swiss pilot Boller, other factors play a bigger role than the aircraft model: “For me, it is not a matter of the aircraft type, but the issue of the airline and its employment conditions and the training of the cockpit crew.” The events showed that correct responses by well-trained pilots could prevent worse outcomes.
It is also worth noting that the two fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 Max in 2018 and 2019 did not occur in America, where the aircraft type is most frequently used. But in Indonesia and Ethiopia with local airlines. All Swiss customers who do not trust the Boeing 737 Max can breathe a sigh of relief: the Swiss airline does not have aircraft of this type in its fleet.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
