The unfortunate uptick in airline accidents has led to recent reports that air travel has become a dangerous way to travel. Some reports have even suggested it has become more deadly than car accidents, stirring up hesitation among travelers. But is there any truth to these claims? In a time where misinterpretation blurs the line between fact and fiction, I am here to set the record straight.
Impact of Declining Passengers and Flights
Unfortunately, 2020 was a rough year for many businesses. The COVID pandemic negatively impacted the entire airline industry.
Prior to 2020, JetBlue saw annual increases of passengers and flights. Comparing our numbers from 2019 to 2020, our passengers decreased by 72% and flights by 62%. Other airlines have experienced similar trends. Misleading reports regarding airplane safety may cause travelers to become hesitant to fly, leading to further decline of passengers and flights. With national ticket price averages at $360, they are currently lower than they have been in the past ten years. However, if passengers and flights continue to decline, airlines may find it necessary to increase prices to stay afloat.
Evidence of Improved Air Travel Safety
Though data shows an undeniable spike of recent incidents, those resulting in fatalities have shown a considerable decline. I narrowed my focus down to the ten leading airlines in the United States: America, United, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Hawaiian, Spirit, Allegiant, Frontier, and last but definitely not least, JetBlue. Together, these airlines have flown over 77 million flights, carried 9.1 billion passengers, and traveled 11.4 trillion Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) since 2002. Of these flights, 87 resulted in accidents, or 0.0001%, two of which were fatal and killed one passenger each. This equates to one fatality for every 5.7 trillion RPMs.
With travelers hesitant to fly, they may choose to drive to their destination instead, thus increasing their risk of an accident. Between 2002 and 2018, vehicles in the United States traversed 51.3 trillion miles. Also during this time, there were 639,728 vehicle related fatalities, which is about one fatality for every 80.2 million miles traveled. At this rate, if the 11.4 trillion RPMs traveled by aircraft were instead traveled by vehicle, there would be an additional 142,145 fatalities.
Further Evidence
If you are not yet convinced that it is safer to travel by air than by vehicle, I can widen the scope of the data. Instead of limiting the data to the ten leading airlines, let's consider all fatalities associated with air travel from 1994 to 2018.
The year with the largest number of fatalities was 1996, with a total of 2,796. Over the years, the number of fatalities have continued in a downward trend. Vehicle related fatalities remained significantly higher, with an average of 38,948 fatalities per year. Based on the US population, the average number of fatalities per 100,000 associated with vehicles and airplanes are 13.28 and 0.43, respectively. The vehicle data only includes fatalities recorded in the US. However, the airplane data is not limited to the US. Therefore, the actual average fatality rate for air travel should be much lower.
Why choose JetBlue?
Here at JetBlue, we pride ourselves in raising the bar and setting new safety standards for the airline industry. In our 21 years of operation, we have maintained a stellar record, safely transporting all of our 477 million passengers to their destinations. We have experienced only one incident, out of over four million flights, in which no passengers were injured. Compared to the other leading airlines, we have had the lowest number of accidents per flight.
Our goal is to deliver value, service, style, and comfort to our customers. In 2019, we were named the number one domestic airline in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards.
We were also awarded Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Low Cost Carriers in the J.D. Power 2019 North America Airline Satisfaction Study for the 13th time. Not only do we aim to provide excellent customer service and impeccable safety, we have consistently maintained lower ticket prices on average than all domestic airlines. With air travel safer than ever, come fly JetBlue.
Kommentarer