Despite Boeing Dreamliner Disaster, Air Travel Has Never Been Safer

It might not be noticeable or believable, but air travel has never been safer.

Despite recent news about the Boeing Dreamliner ibtimes.com reports that Feb. 12, 2013, marks an unmatched record in U.S. aviation history-it has been four years since the last fatal crash of a commercial airliner. On Feb. 12, 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, killing 50 people, when ice formed on the plane's wings.

In fact, it has been over a decade since the last reported incident involving a big domestic carrier, states New York Times.

With 23 fatal accidents and 475 deaths reported last year, it was the safest year for travel, even in terms of global travel, since 1945, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

"Overall, it was the certainly the safest year ever," Paul Hayes, director of safety at Ascend, told the Wall Street Journal. Last year "was almost twice as safe as 2011, which itself had previously" attained the distinction of being twice as safe as the year before," Hayes said. "In 2012, there was one fatal accident per 2.5 million flights around the world."

Some of the factors for this can be attributed to safer, more reliable planes (Boeing Dreamliner doesn't count), advancements in technology and the enhanced and improved sharing of flight information.

This was a completely different story two decades ago when, according to ibtimes.com, more than 2,000 people died in air crashes worldwide in 1985, including a horrific accident involving a Boeing 747 that killed 520 people.

If Boeing could only get their act together with the Dreamliner, the aviation-safety world would be a much better place.