
The world’s commercial airlines suffered 68 accidents in 2015, four of which resulted in passenger fatalities, according to preliminary statistics released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in mid-February (Figure 1). These air carriers operated 37.6 million flights — 31.4 million with jets and 6.2 million with turboprop airplanes — in 2015 and carried approximately 3.5 billion passengers, IATA said.