A chronology of major air disasters in last 20 years

A chronology of major air disasters in last 20 years:

2018

29 October: A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane with 189 passengers onboard crashed shortly after take-off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Numbers of casualties, if any, was not confirmed. 

18 May: A Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, killing 112 people. One passengers survived.

11 April: A military plane crashed shortly after take-off near the Algerian capital Algiers, killing at least 257 people, including 10 crew members. Most of the dead were soldiers and their families.

12 March: A plane carrying 71 passengers and crew crashed on landing at Kathmandu airport, killing 49 people.

18 February: A passenger plane crashed into the Zagros mountains in Iran killing all 66 people on board. The Aseman Airlines plane crashed about an hour after taking off in the Iranian capital, Tehran, heading for the south-western city of Yasuj.

11 February: A Russian passenger plane crashed minutes after leaving Moscow's Domodedovo airport with 71 people on board. The Antonov An-148 belonging to Saratov Airlines was en route to the city of Orsk in the Ural mountains when it crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.

2017

There were no passenger jet crashed in 2017 - the safest year in the history of commercial airlines.

2016

25 December: A Russian military Tu-154 jet airliner crashed in the Black Sea soon after take-off from Sochi airport, with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew. 

7 December: All 48 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it crashed in the north of the country.

28 November: The plane carrying the football team of the Brazilian club Chapecoense run out of fuel and crashed near Medellin, Colombia, killing 71 people, including most of the players and management.

19 May: An EgyptAir flight reported missing between Paris and Cairo crashed, with 66 people on board.

19 March: A FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 crashed in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, killing all 62 people on board.

2015

31 October: Russian airline Kogalymavia's Airbus A321 crashed over central Sinai some 22 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. The crash was later claimed by Islamic State group's local affiliate.

30 June: Indonesian Hercules C-130 military transport plane crashed into a residential area of Medan. All 122 people on board died, along with at least 19 on the ground.

24 March: Germanwings Airbus A320 airliner crashed in the French Alps near Digne, on a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 148 people on board were died.

2014 

28 December: AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea off Borneo shortly after take-off with no survivors. There were 162 passengers and crew on board.

24 July: Air Algérie AH5017, carrying 118 people, crashed in the Sahara. The flight plunged 30,000 feet into the desert in three minutes after running into a violent storm, leaving no survivors. 

23 July: Forty-eight people died when a Taiwanese ATR-72 plane crashed into stormy seas during a short flight. It made an abortive attempt to land before crashing on a second attempt.

17 July: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed near Grabove in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, 193 of them Dutch. Pro-Russian rebels are widely accused of shooting the plane down using a surface-to-air missile - they deny responsibility.

8 March: The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing lead to the largest and most expensive search in aviation history. Despite vast effort, notably in the hostile South Indian Ocean, nothing was found until July 2015, when an aircraft wing part washed up on Reunion Island. French officials confirmed the debris was from MH370.

11 February: A military transport plane - a Hercules C-130 - carrying 78 people crashed in a mountainous part of north-eastern Algeria. Reports suggest there is one survivor from among the military personnel, family members and crew.

2013

17 November: Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on landing in Kazan, Russia, killing all 50 people on board.

16 October: Forty-nine people died when a Lao Airlines ATR 72-600 plunged into the Mekong River right before landing.

2012

3 June: A Dana Air passenger plane with about 150 people on board crashed in a densely populated area of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos.

20 April: A Bhoja Air Boeing 737 crashed during landing in Islamabad, killing all 121 passengers and six crew.

2011

26 July: Some 78 people are killed when a Moroccan military C-130 Hercules crashed into a mountain near Guelmim in Morocco. Officials blamed bad weather.

8 July: A Hewa Bora Airways plane crash-landed in bad weather in Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 74 of the 118 people on board.

9 January: An IranAir Boeing 727 broke into pieces near the city of Orumiyeh, killing 77 of the 100 people on board. The pilots had reported a technical failure before trying to land.

2010

5 November: An Aerocaribbean passenger turboprop crashed in mountains in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.

28 July: A Pakistani plane on an Airblue domestic flight from Karachi crashed into a hillside while trying to land at Islamabad airport, killing all 152 people on board.

22 May: An Air India Express Boeing 737 overshot a hilltop airport in Mangalore, southern India, and crashed into a valley, bursting into flames and killing 158.

12 May: An Afriqiyah Airways Airbus 330 crashed while trying to land near Tripoli airport in Libya, killing more than 100 people.

10 April: A Tupolev 154 plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk, killing more than 90 people on board.

25 January: Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet crashed into the sea with 89 people on board shortly after take-off from Beirut.

2009

15 July: A Caspian Airlines Tupolev plane crashed in the north of Iran en route to Armenia. All 168 passengers and crew died.

30 June: A Yemeni passenger plane, an Airbus 310, crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros archipelago. Only one of the 153 people on board survived.

1 June: An Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic with 228 people on board. Search teams later recovered some 50 bodies in the ocean.

20 May: An Indonesian army C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed into a village on eastern Java, killing at least 97 people.

12 February: A passenger plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground.

2008

14 September: A Boeing-737 crashed on landing near the central Russian city of Perm, killing all 88 passengers and crew members on board.

24 August: A passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, killing 68 people.

20 August: A Spanair plane veers off the runway on take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport, killing 154 people and injuring 18.

2007

30 November: All 56 people on board an Atlasjet flight are killed when it crashed near the town of Keciborlu in the mountainous Isparta province, about 12km (7.5 miles) from Isparta airport.

16 September: At least 87 people are killed after a One-Two-Go plane crashed on landing in bad weather at the Thai resort of Phuket.

17 July: A TAM Airlines jet crashed on landing at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, in Brazil's worst-ever air disaster. A total of 199 people are killed - all 186 on board and 13 on the ground.

5 May: A Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 crashed in swampland in southern Cameroon, killing all 114 on board. The official inquiry is yet to report on the cause of the disaster.

1 January: An Adam Air Boeing 737-400 carrying 102 passengers and crew comes down in mountains on Sulawesi Island on a domestic Indonesian flight.

2006

29 September: A Boeing 737 carrying 154 passengers and crew crashed into the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, killing all on board, after colliding with a private jet in mid-air.

22 August: A Russian Tupolev-154 passenger plane with 170 people on board crashed north of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.

9 July: A Russian S7 Airbus A-310 skided off the runway during landing at Irkutsk airport in Siberia. A total of 124 people on board die, but more than 50 survive the crash.

3 May: An Armavia Airbus A-320 crashed into the Black Sea near Sochi, killing all 113 people on board.

2005

10 December: A Sosoliso Airlines DC-9 crashed in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, killing 103 people on board.

6 December: A C-130 military transport plane crashed on the outskirts of the Iranian capital Tehran, killing 110 people, including some on the ground.

22 October: A Bellview airlines Boeing 737 carrying 117 people on board crashed soon after take-off from the Nigerian city of Lagos, killing everyone on board.

5 September: A Mandala Airlines plane with 112 passengers and five crew on board crashed after take-off in the Indonesian city of Medan, killing almost all on board and dozens on the ground.

16 August: A Colombian plane operated by West Caribbean Airways crashed in a remote region of Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board. The airliner, heading from Panama to Martinique, was packed with residents of the Caribbean island.

14 August: A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus to Athens with 121 people on board crashed north of the Greek capital Athens, apparently after a drop in cabin pressure.

16 July: An Equatair plane crashed soon after take-off from Equatorial Guinea's island capital, Malabo, west of the mainland, killing all 60 people on board.

3 February: The wreckage of Kam Air Boeing 737 flight is located in high mountains near the Afghan capital Kabul, two days after the plane vanished from radar screens in heavy snowstorms. All 104 people on board are feared dead.

2004

21 November: A passenger plane crashed into a frozen lake near the city of Baotou in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, killing all 53 on board and two on the ground, officials say.

3 January: An Egyptian charter plane belonging to Flash Airlines crashed into the Red Sea, killing all 141 people on board. Most of the passengers are thought to be French tourists.

2003

25 December: A Boeing 727 crashed soon after take-off from the West African state of Benin, killing at least 135 people en route to Lebanon.

8 July: A Boeing 737 crashed in Sudan shortly after take-off, killing 115 people on board. Only one passenger, a small child survived.

26 May: A Ukrainian Yak-42 crashed near the Black Sea resort of Trabzon in north-west Turkey, killing all 74 people on board - most of them Spanish peacekeepers returning home from Afghanistan.

8 May: As many as 170 people are reported dead in DR Congo after the rear ramp of an old Soviet plane, an Ilyushin 76 cargo plane, apparently falls off, sucking them out.

6 March: An Algerian Boeing 737 crashed after taking off from the remote Tamanrasset airport, leaving up to 102 people dead.

19 February: An Iranian military transport aircraft carrying 276 people crashed in the south of the country, killing all on board.

8 January: A Turkish Airlines plane with 76 passengers and crew on board crashed while coming in to land at Diyarbakir.

2002

23 December: An Antonov 140 commuter plane carrying aerospace experts crashed in central Iran, killing all 46 people aboard. The delegation had been due to review an Iranian version of the same plane built under licence.

27 July: A fighter jet crashed into a crowd of spectators in the west Ukrainian town of Lviv, killing 77 people, in what is the world's worst air show disaster.

1 July: Seventy-one people, many of them children die when a Russian Tupolev 154 aircraft on a school trip to Spain collides with a Boeing 757 transport plane over southern Germany.

25 May: A Boeing 747 belonging to Taiwan's national carrier - China Airlines - crashed into the sea near the Taiwanese island of Penghu, with 225 passengers and crew on board.

7 May: China Northern Airlines plane carrying 112 people crashed into the sea near Dalian in north-east China.

7 May: On the same day, an EgyptAir Boeing 735 crash lands near Tunis with 55 passengers and up to 10 crew on board. Most people survived.

4 May: A BAC1-11-500 plane operated by EAS Airlines crashed in the Nigerian city of Kano, killing 148 people - half of them on the ground.

15 April: Air China flight 129 crashed on its approach to Pusan, South Korea, with over 160 passengers and crew on board.

12 February: A Tupolev 154 operated by Iran Air crashed in mountains in the west of Iran, killing all 117 on board.

29 January: A Boeing 727 from the Ecuadorean TAME airline crashed in mountains in Colombia, killing 92 people.

2001

12 November: An American Airlines A-300 bound for the Dominican Republic crashed after takeoff in a residential area of the borough of Queens, New York, killing all 260 people on board and at least five people on the ground.

8 October: A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) airliner collides with a small plane in heavy fog on the runway at Milan's Linate airport, killing 118 people.

4 October: A Russian Sibir Airlines Tupolev 154,en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk in Siberia, explodes in mid-air and crashed into the Black Sea, killing 78 passengers and crew.

3 July: A Russian Tupolev 154,en route from Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains to the Russian port of Vladivostok, crashed near the Siberian city of Irkutsk, killing 133 passengers and 10 crew.

2000

30 October: A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles crashed after take-off from Taipei airport in Taiwan, killing 78 of the 179 people on board.

23 August: A Gulf Air Airbus crashed into the sea as it comes in to land in Bahrain, killing all 143 people on board.

25 July: Air France Concorde en route for New York crashed into a hotel outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing 113 people, including four on the ground.

17 July: Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crashed into houses attempting to land at Patna, India, killing 51 people on board and four on the ground.

19 April: Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 from Manila to Davao crashed on approach to landing, killing all 131 people on board.

31 January: Alaska Airlines MD-83 from Mexico to San Francisco plunges into ocean off southern California, killing all 88 people on board.

30 January: Kenya Airways A-310 crashed into Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, en route for Lagos, Nigeria. All but 10 of the 179 people on board die.

1999

31 October: EgyptAir Boeing 767 crashed into Atlantic Ocean after taking off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on flight to Cairo, Egypt, killing all 217 on board.

24 February: China Southwest Airlines plane crashed in a field in China's coastal Zhejiang province after a mid-air explosion. All 61 people on board the Russian-built TU-154 flying from Chongqing to the south-eastern city of Wenzhou are killed.

1998

11 December: Thai Airways International A-310 crashed on a domestic flight during its third attempt to land at Surat Thani, Thailand, killing 101 people.

2 September: Swissair MD-11 from New York to Geneva crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada killing all 229 people on board.

16 February: Airbus A-300 owned by Taiwan's China Airlines crashed near Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport while trying to land in fog and rain after a flight from Bali, Indonesia. All 196 on board and seven people on ground are killed.

2 February: Cebu Pacific Air DC-9 crashed into mountain in southern Philippines, killing all 104 people aboard.