The worldwide major accident1 rate for Western-built commercial jets inched higher in 2015 to 0.2 accidents per million departures, up from the historic low of 0.13 per million departures the previous year. None of the six major accidents involving commercial jet transports was fatal, however (Table 1), and this represented a marked improvement over previous years. There were four major commercial jet transport accidents in 2014.
The accident tally does not include two fatal events involving large commercial jet aircraft — the Germanwings Airbus A320 that investigating authorities say was deliberately flown into the ground in the French Alps by its first officer on March 24, and the Metrojet A321 that is believed by investigators to have been destroyed by a bomb after departing Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 31. Together, these events killed all 374 passengers and crewmembers. Because they have been considered deliberate actions, they are not classified as aviation accid…
