Ten commercial jet makes have never had fatal accidents
There are 10 major commercial jets that can claim to be the world’s safest, having never had a passenger fatality, according to manufacturer Boeing.
An international summary of accidents over almost 60 years has listed planes with fatalityfree records including the Boeing 717, CRJ regional jet, A380, Boeing 787, Boeing 747-8, Airbus A350, Bombardier C Series, A340 and the Airbus A320 NEO series.
The Boeing 737 MAX series has since entered service and has not been involved in an accident.
The report by Boeing does not include any jets built in Russia or former Soviet bloc countries nor turbo-prop or piston-powered planes.
Other planes that have excellent safety records include the Boeing 737NG series with 0.09 fatal crashes per one million departures, the Boeing 767 (0.10), the Airbus A320 series (0.11), Boeing’s 777 (0.20) and 757 (0.20) and the Airbus A330 (0.21).
These accident rates are a fraction of earlier jets such as the Boeing 707, which had a fatal crash rate of 4.28 per million departures.
Even the early models of the 747 had a crash rate of 1.46.
Boeing’s Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents Worldwide Operations 1959 – 2016 has highlighted how a range of technologies, such as highly computerised cockpits, has dramatically improved safety.
A great example is the world’s most successful jet, the Boeing 737, with more than 14,300 sold, which first flew in 1967.
The initial models had a fatal crash rate of 0.89 per million departures.
The upgraded 737-300/400/ 500, which first flew in 1984, had a crash rate of 0.25.
The 737 New Generation models which entered service in 1998, have a crash rate of just 0.09. The latest version, the 737 MAX series, which started flights last year, has a flawless record so far.