Frequently Asked Questions:

Why was Airline Safety Records Created?

Airline-Safety-Records.com  was created to act as a safety "report card" on America's airline industry.  Airline accidents unfortunately occur often enough that it is difficult to determine which airlines are doing a better job at safety than others.  When accidents do occur, it's impossible to know if one airline has more accidents because it is more careless than others or because it simply flies more than others.  The statistics on this page adjust for the differences in the number of trips an airline flies each year to produce a standardized set of numbers that allow you to objectively assess the safety record of all airlines.

Why are the statistics reported in a number "per million takeoffs"?

Since some airlines fly much more often than others, a raw count of accidents, incidents, and near mid-air collisions would not give an accurate picture of how safe one airline is compared to another.  Therefore all statistics are reported as a number per 1,000,000 takeoffs.  For example, if an airline flew 5,000,000 takeoffs during the year and had 10 accidents it would be reported as having 2 accidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs.  Again, if another airline flew only 500,000 takeoffs during the same year and had the same number of accidents (10 accidents) they would be reported as having 20 accidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs.  Clearly the second airline is less safe than the first (even though they both had the same number of accidents during the year).

Why are there no statistics reported for foreign owned airlines?

In order to maintain a standardized set of statistics that allow a fair comparison among airlines, the source data has to be standardized.  Most foreign countries do not make their airline safety information available.  Those that do will have different definitions for "accidents" or "incidents".  These different definitions and methods make it impossible to objectively compare safety records between US airlines and foreign airlines.

Why are some US airlines not in the tables?

In order to be most effective, the statistics on this site are reported for major airlines and large national airlines.  Smaller regional airlines are not included.  In addition, among the major and national airlines, there must be an unbroken string of data available for a period of five years in order to be included.  This is necessary to provide for a standardized comparison among all airlines covered.  Therefore airlines that have not been in business for at least five years will not be found in these tables.