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This year was the deadliest for aviation accidents of 2018 after a commercial jet crashed into a concrete wall on Sunday morning South Koreakilling 179 of the 181 people on board.
Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 collided with the barrier before flames broke out at Muan International Airport. The flight took off from Bangkok, Thailand at around 2am on Sunday. Only two people, both crew members, survived the disaster. An international team of investigators is now working to determine the cause of the deadly incident.
The number of passenger plane deaths jumped this year after the Jeju Air crash An Azerbaijan Airlines jet was shot down on Christmas Day in Kazakhstan after flying into Russian airspace. 38 of the 67 people on board died in the incident. In August, a regional commercial airliner crashed in Brazil, killing all 62 people on board.
A total of 318 people have died on airplanes this year, according to data from the AP Aviation Security Network. This is the deadliest year in aviation since 2018, when 557 people died on commercial flights. That year, a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
This year is the first time since 2018 that the number of people killed in flights has exceeded 300 people.
In 2023, the number of in-flight deaths reached a low of 120, the safest year in aviation since 2017, when 58 deaths were reported.
In a statement after the Jeju Air crash, Boeing said it was in contact with the airline and was ready to support them.
“We express our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” the company said. Boeing is one of the two largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft, the other being Airbus, the company’s European competitor. Boeing shares fell 4 percent in premarket trading on Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board, the lead U.S. investigative agency after transportation disasters, will lead a team of U.S. investigators to assist Korean officials in the investigation. Any upcoming information will be released by South Korea’s Air and Railway Accident Investigation Board, the federal agency said.
South Korean authorities on Monday ordered the grounding of all Boeing 737-800 planes used by the country’s airlines after another Jeju Air plane had a problem with its landing gear. Officials will inspect the planes before returning them to the skies.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to ground after an Alaska Airlines door stopper exploded nearly a year ago. The agency required an inspection of all 171 planes before they return to carrying customers.
It’s not clear what caused Sunday’s crash, but investigators suspect a bird strike or landing gear failure may have played a role, although the former rarely causes such catastrophic incidents. The landing gear was not deployed when the plane hit the runway.
Despite fatal collisions, fatal aircraft accidents remain rare and usually occur during takeoff and landing. Sunday’s fatal accident was Jeju Air’s first. Investigators will likely work to determine the cause of the incident in order to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. Officials will analyze data obtained from the cockpit voice recorder and black box to determine what caused the crash. Preventive measures are usually implemented after catastrophic incidents.