On-board fatalities in crashes involving Western-built commercial jets1 declined to zero in 2015, down from 278 fatalities in 2014, according to data from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The death toll for people on the ground — killed in three separate accidents — totaled 16; the comparable 2014 figure was one.
Boeing’s annual Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents,2 published in July, reported 28 accidents involving Western-built commercial jets in 2015; six of the accident airplanes were destroyed.3 By comparison, in 2014, airplanes were destroyed in three of 29 accidents involving Western-built commercial jets.
Seven of the 28 accidents in 2015 were considered major accidents — a term defined by Boeing to describe an accident in which any of these three conditions is met: The airplane was destroyed, the accident resulted in multiple fatalities, or the accident involved one fatality and substantial damage to the…
