Are airline flights the safest mode of transportation in the U.S.?

Federal data show that airline flights are safer than other major transportation modes in the U.S.

A claim about safety was made by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy after 67 people were killed in the Jan. 29 midair collision of an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter near Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Duffy is a Republican former congressman from northern Wisconsin.

Highway transportation accounts for 95% of fatalities and over 99% of injuries from transportation incidents.

From 2008 through 2022, airline flights had lower passenger death rates than buses, railroad passenger trains and passenger vehicles, according to the latest annual figures. 

The rate is deaths per 100,000 passenger miles. 

In 2022, the rates were:

0.001: Air

0.004: Bus

0.03: Rail

0.54: Passenger vehicles

There were four fatal airline crashes from 2008 through 2022.

The lifetime odds of dying as an aircraft passenger in the U.S. are “too small to calculate,” the nonprofit National Safety Council said.