External factors pose a risk to safe air travel
Muscat: Despite staking claims for being the safest mode of transport, there have been several fatal accidents involving scheduled passenger airlines in recent months, and, to be more precise, from December 2024.
The most fatal of these was the recent crash involving Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which led to the death of 279 passengers, including non-travelers.
The other major accident was in the US in January involving the American Eagle, which killed 67 people.
Including minor ones, there were 66 occurrences and 397 fatalities in 2025.
On December 28, 2024, the Korean airline Boeing 737 was involved in an accident that killed 179 passengers.
Among others, the Embraer aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines was involved in an accident, leading to the loss of 38 lives.
There were 244 on-board fatalities in 2024, up from 72 in 2023
According to IATA, the most common accidents in 2024 in North America were four tail strikes, followed by runway damage and runway excursions.
While no accidents have been linked to debris from space operations, the increasing number of rocket launches presents challenges for air traffic management.
While 2024 saw 5 billion passengers in 40 million flights, according to IATA, there are concerns over record levels of aircraft groundings due to engine shortages and MRO, capacity constraints, tighter airspace due to geopolitical conflicts, and military activity.
Staffing shortages, particularly in technical and operation
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