In 2020, 122 people died in aviation accidents on EU territory involving aircraft registered in the EU Member States, representing a 31 % drop compared to 2019, when there were 176 deaths.
Like in the last four years, most of the air accident fatalities in 2020 (91% or 111 deaths) involved aircraft with a maximum take-off mass (MTOM) of less than 2250 kg in the ‘general aviation’ category. This sub-category comprises small aeroplanes, gliders, ’microlights’, as well as hot air balloons.
Most of the deaths (73%) in this category under 2250 kg were registered in France (37 fatalities), Germany (29 fatalities), Italy (9 fatalities) and Poland (6 fatalities).
The second category with most deaths, 5 in total, was ‘aerial work’, which relates to the operation of aircraft for specialised services, such as agriculture, construction, photography, surveying, search and rescue as well as aerial advertisement.
The ‘commercial air transport’ and ‘general aviation’ involving large aircraft over 2250 kg MTOM registered 3 deaths each.
For more information:
- Eurostat Statistics Explained article on air safety statistics in the EU
- Eurostat database on transport safety under multimodal data
- Eurostat dedicated section on transport