By Our Reporter

When the year 2024 was coming closer to its end, two fatal air crashes—one in Azerbaijan and another in South Korea killing 212 passengers and crew members in total.

With the two crashes, the year 2024 became the deadliest year for commercial aviation with 318 deaths since 2018 when 500 people were killed in air crashes.

Moreover, the deadliest crash occurred in South Korea where aviation disasters used to be rare. But on Sunday, 179 people were killed when a Boeing 737-800 plane operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air crashed while landing at Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest at around 9 a.m. local time. The plane had taken off from Bangkok carrying 181 persons.

Likewise, 32 persons were killed on December 25 when Russia downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane.

Investigators have yet to determine why a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed-landed at Muan International Airport early Sunday with no landing gear deployed and smashed into a concrete wall. All but two of the 181 people on board died as the wrecked jet exploded into a ball of fire.

After another Jeju plane experienced a landing-gear issue, Korean authorities on December 30 ordered maintenance record checks of 101 other 737-800s in operation among local airlines. Boeing shares fell in early U.S. trading on December 30.

In January 2024, a huge Japan Airlines Co. jet collided with a coastguard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Everyone aboard the commercial jetliner survived, but five people on the smaller aircraft were killed.

The year was also marred by a fatal case of severe turbulence in May on a Singapore Airlines Ltd. jet flying over Myanmar. In July, Nepal’s Saurya Airlines crashed after taking off from Kathmandu, killing 18. And in August dramatic footage of a plane operated by Brazilian airline VoePass captured the turboprop freefalling from the sky after encountering icy weather conditions. That accident killed 62. Global conflicts may also have contributed to this year’s aviation fatalities.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer SA 190 had nearly completed a scheduled flight from the capital city of Baku to Grozny, Russia, on December 25 when it was suddenly diverted across the Caspian Sea. The damaged plane crashed about 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from its destination of Aktau, Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan’s president has said the plane was accidentally shot down by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised without mentioning Russia's involvement in the crash.

Jeju Air’s first fatal crash also marked the worst civil air accident ever in South Korea.