Dhaka: 2023 was the safest year on record for commercial air travel, said International Air Transport Association in its annual report on February 28.

The only fatal accident of a passenger plane was the crash of an ATR turboprop operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines during a domestic flight with 72 casualties, it added.

IATA mentioned, it counted another 29 accidents in 2023, however, those did not have any fatality or aircraft loss.

In 2022, there were 42 accidents in total, of which five were fatal with 158 casualties.

It may be mentioned here that IATA counts those as non-fatal accidents which cause plane damages of at least USD 1 million or equal to 10 per cent of the plane's value.

IATA statistics do not cover business, military, private, maintainance or training flights.

As per IATA, "2023 saw the lowest fatality risk and 'all accident' rate on record. On average a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a fatal accident."

The low crash rate came despite the number of flights in 2023 rising 17 per cent to 37.7 million, further informed IATA in its report.

"Even if flying is among the safest activities a person can do, there is always room to improve," said Willie Walsh, Director General, IATA.

However, he cited "two high profile accidents in the first month of 2024".

In January 2024, a Japan Airlines A350 Airbus was safely evacuated after bursting into flames at Tokyo airport.

January 2024 also saw a fuselage panel door of a Boeing 737 MAX blowing off during an Alaska Airlines flight in the USA. However, there was no serious injury.