Despite the heavily mediatized crash of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX, 2019 proved a relatively safe year for commercial aviation. Dutch consulting firm To70 said total fatalities dropped by more than half compared to the previous year. But behind the encouraging data lay some crucial lessons for the future.
A Taiwanese military helicopter crashed in a mountainous area near the capital of Taipei on January 2, 2020. Eight of the thirteen occupants were killed, including Taiwan’s chief of the general staff.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, the company that produces the Superjet 100 regional passenger aircraft, said it had handed off the first five aircraft from a deal with Aeroflot, which is due to receive a hundred planes by 2026. The transaction is the largest one for both the plane manufacturer and the airline, according to Sukhoi.
On January 1, 2020, Delta Airlines flight DL8817 from Mexico City (Mexico) reached the destination in New York (the United States) with over nine hours of delay. Unconfirmed reports on social media indicate that the incident was caused by a fire in the Boeing 757 left engine.
