Deaths from plane crashes up in 2009

There were 749 deaths in 2009 compared with 583 in 2008, statistics from Flight International magazine revealed yesterday.

Fatal accidents last year included the June 30 crash into the Atlantic of an Air France Airbus A330 with the loss of all 216 passengers and 12 crew.

156 passengers and 12 crew also died when a Caspian Airlines Tupolev plane crashed in Iran on July 15.

Flight International operations and safety editor David Learmount said the period 2000-09 saw the "lowest accident rates in aviation history by a considerable margin".

But he said the constant improvement in safety over the last few decades was "now stagnating" and there had been "virtually no improvement in safety in the 10 years from 2000 to 2009".

Mr Learmount said that since the beginning of the "noughties" and particularly since 2003, the number of annual fatal airline accidents almost levelled out and 2009 figures continued this trend.

He added that "preventable accidents are still happening, so there is plenty of room for improvement".