The airline in the US with the lowest fatal accident rate is Southwest Airlines, with zero fatalities. Between 1985 and 2009, the airline conducted 17.87 million flights and suffered no fatalities, with the exception of one fatality on the ground. As a percentage of the total number of flights, Southwest Airlines has the lowest fatal accident rate in the world, with Delta Airlines close behind, followed by Lufthansa.
More Airline Facts:
- Commercial airliners are the safest way to fly. Overall, commercial airliners have 4.03 fatalities per million hours in the air, compared to private planes with 22.43 fatalities per million flight hours.
- Cubana Airlines has the worst fatal accident record, with eight fatal events in 320,000 flights. It is closely followed by China Airlines, with six fatal events in 910,000 flights.
- The probability that an airline passenger will die in a single flight is about eight million-to-one; based on probability, it would take about 27,000 years for a person taking one random flight per day to die in a plane accident.