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Global plane crash deaths rose despite air traffic decline
Despite air traffic plummeting in 2020, the number of fatalities caused by air accidents was up.
There were 299 deaths in commercial air crashes globally last year, up from 257 in 2019, according to aviation consultancy To70.
It is a big jump in the fatality rate based on the number of flights, which decreased by 42% in 2020.
It said there were 0.27 fatal accidents per million flights against 0.18 fatal accidents per million flights in 2019.
Most of the deaths came from two incidents including the shooting down of a Ukraine International Airlines flight by Iran armed forces.
Another 98 people died in May 2020 when a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed near Karachi.
This was mostly attributed to pi;ot error.
To70 said there were only 40 commercial air accidents last year, compared to 86 in 2019.
Only five of these caused one of more fatalities.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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