Last year was the safest in commercial aviation history despite the two Malaysia Airlines tragedies, a new report has found.
According to an annual safety report from IATA, which represents 250 airlines, the number of fatal accidents compared with the total number of flights was a record low.
There were 12 fatal accidents involving all aircraft types in 2014 with 641 fatalities compared with an average of 19 fatal accidents and 517 fatalities a year in the five year period between 2009 and 2013.
"While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014, the data show that flying continues to improve its safety performance," said Tony Tyler, IATA's director general and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Last week saw the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of flight MH370, which went missing n route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. This prompted the ICAO to move towards the adoption of a performance-based standard for global tracking of commercial aircraft.
The MH17 aircraft which was shot down over East Ukraine is not included as an accident under globally-recognised accident classification criteria.
"The shooting down of MH17 took with it 298 lives in an act of aggression that is by any measure unacceptable,” said Tyler.
"To the flying public an air tragedy is an air tragedy, regardless of how it is classified. In 2014 we saw a reduction in the number of fatal accidents—and that would be true even if we were to include MH 17 in the total.
“The greatest tribute that we can pay to those who lost their lives in aviation-related tragedies is to continue our dedication to make flying ever safer. And that is exactly what we are doing," he added.