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Since travel has been possible by air, it has never been safer to board a plane, according to American scientists. While this may be doubted given the succession of accidents involving Boeing aircraft, a study indicates that the risk of death is one in 13.7 million. And some destinations are even safer than others…
Every time, it’s the same story: your heart races, your hands become increasingly sweaty and your mind can’t help but imagine things. It’s because you still want to go on holiday to the other side of Europe. You’re thus confronting your fear of flying. What if scientists had the right arguments to reassure you? And we’re not talking about just any researchers, but those from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) whose studies are authoritative in many fields, including aviation.
According to research published last August in the Journal of Air Transport ManagementAmerican scientists claim that the risk of death each time a passenger boards has been divided by 50% each decade over the last half-century, that is to say precisely from 1968 to 2017. Concerning the period from 2018 to 2022, at the heart of this research, this risk has decreased at the same rate.The risk of death from commercial air travel was 1 per 13.7 million passenger enplanements worldwide during 2018-2022 – a significant improvement from 1 per 7.9 million enplanements during 2008-2017 and a far cry from 1 per 350,000 enplanements during 1968-1977.“, noted a press release from MIT
It could be said that the conclusion is biased since this study period includes the health crisis caused by Covid-19.Although the pandemic has caused convulsions in aviation operations, it has not caused a deviation from the trend in which the risk of passenger deaths globally due to accidents and deliberate acts has been decreasing by about 7% per year.“, retort the authors.
So when you get on a plane, you have a one in 13.7 million chance of not getting home. But this statement, as reassuring as it may be, even though the number of severe turbulences has seriously increased over the last four decades, a British analysis had revealed, is only a generality. Because not all countries can boast of being reached with such safety. According to MIT, the countries where you land or from which you take off that present a low risk for air travel are the countries of the European Union, Japan, the United States, China, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Montenegro.
Conversely, it is not at all said that it is doubtful to choose these destinations, but the danger is classified as medium in South Africa, Qatar, Jordan, Singapore, Taiwan, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates or even the Philippines and Thailand. We reassure you all the same: the probability is only one death for 80 million passengers…