Is Airbus Safer To Fly Than Boeing?

With multiple aviation incidents in recent times, people are eager to know if it is safe to travel by air

When it comes to passenger jets, the two primary players are Boeing and Airbus. With recent incidents involving Boeing manufactured aircrafts, some critics have raised quality concerns. But are these accusations true? It also brings up the question whether Airbus is safer to fly than Boeing. To answer that, let us look at some important data points.

Crashes and fatalities

Due to the complex nature of aviation data and the multiple variables involved, different studies have noted different results in terms of the number of crashes and fatalities associated with Airbus and Boeing. For example, Airbus currently has a larger active fleet in comparison to Boeing. While Airbus has around 13,000 to 14,000 active planes in service globally, Boeing has around 8,000 to 9,000 active planes worldwide. This difference will influence the data-driven results derived from statistical analysis.

Since the year 2000, a total of 64 accidents involving Boeing aircrafts were recorded. These crashes resulted in 3,380 fatalities. Some of the high-profile crash cases involving Boeing were the Lion Air 610 (2018, MAX‑8) and Ethiopian Airlines 302 (2019, MAX‑8).

During the same time period, 39 accidents involving Airbus planes were registered. These resulted in 1,691 fatalities. Some of the notable collisions include the MH17 (2014, A‑777) and AirAsia QZ8501 (2014, A320). As is evident, Boeing has approximately 1.6 times more accidents and twice more fatalities than Airbus planes in the last 20+ years.

Accidents per million departures

Another study took a more focused approach by analyzing accident rates (normalized per departures). This comparative study was conducted over a 10-year period. It was noted that Boeing had approximately 5.59 incidents per million departures. In comparison, Airbus had approximately 4.91 incidents per million departures.

Other variables involved

Based on the above data, it does appear that Boeing has a higher rate of accidents and fatalities in comparison to Airbus. However, there can be other factors involved. For example, many accidents are caused by other factors and not linked to the manufacturer. It includes things like human error, lack of proper maintenance by the airline company and environmental factors. Among the incidents recorded from 2014 to 2023, around 80% were attributed to human and environmental factors. The manufacturer cannot be blamed directly in such cases.

Boeing’s current higher rate of accidents can be attributed to the recent cases involving the 737 MAX. However, these cannot be set aside. So, as far as raw data is concerned, Boeing does have a higher number of crashes and fatalities in absolute numbers. However, since there are various other non-quantifiable factors involved, it will be difficult to come to a definitive conclusion. Despite the recent crashes, air travel remains one of the safest modes of travel in the world.