Two Recent Crashes Lead to Deadliest Year in the Skies Since 2018

Commercial aviation suffered its deadliest year since 2018 after the Dec. 29 Jeju Air disaster in South Korea and last week's downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane.

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Fatalities on board passenger aircraft jumped to 318 in 2024 with the two recent accidents, data compiled by Cirium shows. That is by far the highest death toll since more than 500 people died in 2018, a year marked by the first of two Boeing 737 Max crashes.

The year 2024 started and ended with tragedies in Japan and South Korea during attempted landings, among the most dangerous phases of flight.

Fatal aviation accidents remain very rare, and one major incident can suddenly turn a statistically safe year into one of the worst.

"The recent spike falls into the margins of unpredictability," said Mr. Darren Straker, a former head of air accident investigation units in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong. He suggested airline crews could be better trained to respond to so-called outlier events.

Investigators have yet to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800—a predecessor to the Max—careered down the runway at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29 with no landing gear deployed and smashed into a concrete wall.

All but two of the 181 people on board died as the wrecked jet exploded into a ball of fire.

The fatal Jeju Air crash was the airline's first and ranks as the worst civil air accident in South Korea.

As the plane neared the airport, one of the pilots reported a bird strike, declared a mayday and initiated a fly-around procedure, according to South Korean Transport Ministry officials.