The number of people killed in commercial airliner crashes fell by half last year despite the high-profile failure of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
Research by the aviation consultancy To70 indicated that 2019 was one of the safest years in commercial aviation history.
In all, there were 86 accidents, eight of which were fatal, resulting in 257 deaths. It compared with 534 fatalities a year earlier, a drop of 52 per cent.
The Dutch consultancy said that fatal accidents involving large passenger aircraft “remain rare events”.
The decline was recorded despite the Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March last year, which resulted in the deaths of all 157 people on board. The worldwide 737 Max fleet was grounded after another disaster five months