According to Caixin on December 31 (Editor: Xiaoxiang), after experiencing the tragic incidents of the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crash and the explosion upon landing of the South Korea Jeju Air passenger plane in December, this year has unfortunately become the year with the highest number of fatalities in commercial aviation since 2018.

Data compiled by Cirium shows that with the occurrence of two recent major air disaster events, the number of fatalities in the global aviation industry this year has risen to 318. This is the highest death toll since the first crash of the Boeing 737 Max in 2018, which claimed over 500 lives.

Although fatal aviation accidents are still very rare, just one or two major incidents can suddenly turn a year that originally seemed safe in statistics into one of the worst years...

Darren Straker, former head of the accident investigation departments in the UAE and Hong Kong, stated, "The recent surge in accidents falls into the category of unpredictable events." He suggested better training for airline crew members to handle so-called abnormal events.

It is worth mentioning that the two incidents that occurred in Japan and South Korea at both ends of this year happened during the planes' attempts to land, which is one of the most dangerous phases of flight.

In January this year, a Japan Airlines passenger plane collided with a Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo Haneda Airport. All on board the commercial aircraft survived, but five people on the small Coast Guard plane lost their lives.

The specific cause of the recent crash of the South Korea Jeju Air passenger plane has yet to be determined. Investigators have not yet established why the Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air crashed onto the runway of Wosan International Airport on Sunday without deploying its landing gear and collided with a concrete wall. The crashed plane exploded into a fireball, resulting in the deaths of all but two of the 181 people on board.

The deadly crash of Jeju Airlines marks the worst civil aviation accident in South Korea's history.

Shortly after, another aircraft from Jeju Airlines also experienced landing gear issues, prompting South Korean authorities to order an inspection of the maintenance records for the 101 other Boeing 737-800s operated by local airlines on Monday. Boeing's stock price further fell by 2.3% on Monday.

In addition to the hazardous takeoff and landing stages, global geopolitical conflicts could also be one of the reasons for the aviation fatalities this year.

On December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane flying from Baku to Grozny, Russia, crashed near the western city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, resulting in 38 fatalities. Azerbaijani President Aliyev stated on the 29th that the aircraft had been fired upon from the ground while in Russian airspace, causing severe damage to the rear of the plane.

In addition, other serious aviation accidents this year include: in August, a passenger plane from Brazil's Vopass Airlines crashed about 80 kilometers from São Paulo, killing all 62 aboard; in July, a passenger plane from Nepal's Suna Airlines crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, resulting in 18 deaths.

Of course, overall, the number of fatalities in global aviation accidents has shown a relative decline over the past 15 years.

The year 2023 has been recorded as the safest year in aviation history, with large passenger aircraft (typically manufactured by Airbus and Boeing) not experiencing any fatal accidents. Even with the increase in passenger traffic post-pandemic, safety trends have continued to improve.