“Despite the challenges of coping with Covid-19, the airline industry has generally maintained its expected high level of safety,” says Paul Hayes, Cirium’s safety director. “Based on the fatal accident rate, 2020 was the second safest year ever, only narrowly being beaten by 2015.” Cirium’s criteria are slightly different from FlightGlobal’s, in that they do not include those accidents which were caused by “acts of violence”, whereas FlightGlobal considers all risks. Finally, Cirium includes only turboprop and jet-powered aircraft. BAD PLANNING Among the four fatal jet accidents in 2020, three were the result of poorly planned and badly executed approaches in serviceable aircraft in conditions that should not have been a problem for the crews. These involved a Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen airport on 5 February, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A320 in Karachi on 22 May, and an Air India Express 737-800 at Kozhikode-Calicut airport on 7 August. Between the three of them, they killed 121 passengers and crew.