Return of aviation terrorism

More than half of recent aviation fatalities are believed to have been caused by deliberate attacks or, in one case, the actions of a pilot. No successful attacks took place between 2005 and 2013

Plane crash fatalities (2010-2015)

Fatal accidents

Fatalities

From terrorism, conflict, suicide, unexplained

10-year average

0 205 250 500 750 1,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

831 507 475 265 990 537 (54.2%) 560 374 (66.8%) 167

2006: Transatlantic liquid explosives plot foiled

2009: Underpants bomb plot fails

2010: Two bomb plots fail

Mar 8, 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370  – with 239 people on board – disappears from radar after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. Five pieces of debris have been found around Indian Ocean

Jul 17: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, flying from Amsterdam to Malaysia, is shot down over
Donetsk area in Ukrainian territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. All 298 people on board are killed

Mar 24, 2015: Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes into French Alps, en route from Spain to
Germany. All 150 people on board are killed. Officials conclude that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed plane after locking pilot out of cockpit

Oct 31: All 224 people on board Metrojet Flight 9268 are killed when bomb explodes over Sinai Peninsula. Plane is en route from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia

Source: Aviation Safety Network, Airliner accident statistics