Air travel safer than ever

Air travel has never been safer despite the steadily rising number of passengers worldwide, with one lethal accident per some 1.5 million flights in 2011, a new report released Tuesday revealed. More than 2.8 billion people took to the skies last year in some 38 million flights, according to an analysis by Ascend, a leading consultancy that monitors the aviation industry. But out of those 38 million flights, there were only 25 deadly accidents -- about one accident per 1.52 million flights, it said. A total of just 497 people were killed in the incidents. "2011 is the safest year yet," Paul Hayes, director of air safety at the consultancy, told AFP. "Most of accidents involve small local carriers, local operators which are probably not known outside the communities they serve." The safest regions are Australia, the United States and Western Europe, followed by Latin America, Africa and ex-Soviet countries, he said. According to Ascend, there were some 28 lethal air accidents worldwide in 2010 that killed 828 people.