| Number of deaths | Date | Flight name | Aircraft type | Accident details |
| 349 | November 12, 1996 | Saudia Flight 763 / Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 | Boeing 747 / Ilyushin Il-76 | Saudia Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 collided mid-air over the town of Charkhi Dadri, near Delhi, India. The collision was mainly the result of the Kazakh pilot flying lower than the assigned clearance altitude. All 349 occupants on board the two aircraft died. It remains the world's deadliest mid-air collision without survivors. The Ramesh Chandra Lahoti Commission, empowered to study the causes, recommended the creation of the "semi-circular rule", to prevent aircraft from flying in opposite directions at the same altitude. The Civil Aviation Authorities in India made it mandatory for all aircraft flying in and out of India to be equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), setting a worldwide precedent for mandatory use of TCAS. |
| 346 | March 3, 1974 | Turkish Airlines Flight 981 | McDonnell Douglas DC-10 | Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in a forest northeast of Paris, France. The London-bound aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Orly airport; all 346 people aboard died. It was later determined that the cargo door detached, which caused an explosive decompression; this caused the floor just above to collapse. The collapsed floor severed the control cables, which left the pilots without control of the elevators, the rudder and No. 2 engine. The aircraft entered a steep dive and crashed. It was the deadliest plane crash of all time until the Tenerife disaster in 1977. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft crash with no survivors. This accident was also the deadliest single-aircraft crash that did not involve a Boeing 747. |
| 329 | June 23, 1985 | Air India Flight 182 | Boeing 747-237 | Air India Flight 182 en route from Toronto and Montreal to London and Delhi, crashed off the southwest coast of Ireland when a bomb exploded in the cargo hold. All 307 passengers and 22 crew members died. One passenger had checked in as "M. Singh". Singh did not board the flight but his suitcase, containing the bomb, was loaded onto the aircraft. "M. Singh" was never identified or captured. It was later determined Sikh extremists were behind the bombing as a retaliation for the Indian government's attack on the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar, spiritually the most significant shrine in Sikhism. This was, at the time, the deadliest terrorist attack involving an airplane. |
| 301 | August 19, 1980 | Saudia Flight 163 | Lockheed L-1011 | Saudia Flight 163 became the world's deadliest aviation accident that did not involve a crash. The crew performed an emergency landing at Riyadh after a fire broke out in an aft baggage compartment. The fire burned through the ceiling of the compartment and into the passenger cabin. The crew landed the aircraft safely, but the captain did not stop immediately and order an evacuation. He taxied off the runway instead, by which time everyone in the cabin had become unconscious due to fumes and were unable to open any doors or evacuate. All 301 passengers and crew aboard died of suffocation before rescue ground crews could open any door, after which the aircraft burst into flames and was consumed by fire. |
| 298 | July 17, 2014 | Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 | Boeing 777-200ER | Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down in an area of Eastern Ukraine near the Ukraine/Russian border during the war in Donbas. There were 298 people on board: 283 passengers and 15 crew members, all of whom died. The crew were all Malaysians, while the passengers were of various nationalities, most from the Netherlands. Several Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) aircraft had been shot down over the rebel-controlled territory before the MH17 incident. Immediately after the crash, a post appeared on the VKontakte social media profile attributed to Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbas separatist militia, claiming responsibility for shooting down a Ukrainian An-26 military transport near Torez. The post was removed later the same day, and the separatists then denied shooting down any aircraft. |
| 290 | July 3, 1988 | Iran Air Flight 655 | Airbus A300-200 | Iran Air Flight 655, an Iranian civilian airliner, was shot down by two surface-to-air missiles from the U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes over the Strait of Hormuz. All 290 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft died. The downing was caused by a series of mistakes that led the USS Vincennes crew to believe that the airliner was an Iranian Air Force F-14. |
| 275 | February 19, 2003 | Iranian military aircraft | Ilyushin Il-76 | An Iranian military Ilyushin Il-76 crashed in mountainous terrain near Kerman in Iran. The official report says bad weather brought the aircraft down; high winds and fog were present at the time of the crash. |
| 273 | May 25, 1979 | American Airlines Flight 191 | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 | American Airlines Flight 191 crashed shortly after lifting off the runway at Chicago O'Hare Airport after the number one (left) engine and pylon separated from the wing. This broke hydraulic lines, causing leading edge lift devices to retract on that side of the aircraft and resulted in asymmetrical lift and loss of control. The accident was attributed to improper maintenance procedures. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 271 passengers and crew on board, as well as two people on the ground. It remains the deadliest commercial aircraft accident in United States history, and was also the country's deadliest aviation disaster until the September 11 attacks in 2001. |
| 270 | December 21, 1988 | Pan Am Flight 103 | Boeing 747-121 | Pan Am Flight 103 bound for New York–JFK from London–Heathrow with continued service to Detroit, was destroyed by a terrorist bomb over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 occupants and 11 people on the ground (all residents of Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie), died, making it the worst terrorist attack involving an aircraft in the UK and the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil. Following the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed new security measures on American airlines flying out of 103 airports in Western Europe and the Middle East. |
| 269 | September 1, 1983 | Korean Air Lines Flight 007 | Boeing 747-230 | A Soviet interceptor Sukhoi Su-15 shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 bound for Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, after it unintentionally flew into Soviet airspace; all 269 occupants on board died. |
| 265 | November 12, 2001 | American Airlines Flight 587 | Airbus A300 | American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, New York, just after departing John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Las Américas International Airport, Santo Domingo. The first officer's overuse of the rudder in response to wake turbulence from a Japan Airlines 747 was cited as cause. All 260 people on board, as well as five people on the ground, died from the crash. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil, after American Airlines Flight 191. |
| 264 | April 26, 1994 | China Airlines Flight 140 | Airbus A300B4-622R | China Airlines Flight 140 was completing a routine flight and approach at Nagoya Airport, Japan, when the Airbus A300B4-622R's First Officer inadvertently pressed the takeoff/go-around button, which raises the throttle position to the same as that for take offs and go-arounds. The action and the two pilots' reaction resulted in a crash that killed 264 (15 crew and 249 passengers) of the 271 people aboard. |
| 261 | July 11, 1991 | Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 | Douglas DC-8-61 | Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 operated by Nationair Canada, crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after two tires ignited upon takeoff, leading to an in-flight fire. All 261 occupants were killed. It is the deadliest aviation accident involving a DC-8, the largest aviation disaster involving a Canadian-registered aircraft and the second-worst accident in Saudi Arabia (after Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 163 – see above). |
| 260 | June 12, 2025 | Air India Flight 171 | Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner | Air India Flight 171 flying from Ahmedabad, India, to London, United Kingdom, crashed shortly after take off into the Meghaninagar neighbourhood, killing all but one of the 242 people onboard and also 19 people on the ground. According to a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, the crash was caused by both engines losing thrust after the fuel control switches moved from the RUN to CUTOFF position. The cause of the switch movement remains under investigation. |
| 257 | April 11, 2018 | Algerian Air Force transport aircraft | Ilyushin Il-76 | Algerian Air Force transport aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Boufarik Airport, killing all 257 occupants on board the Ilyushin Il-76. |
| 257 | November 28, 1979 | Air New Zealand Flight 901 | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | Air New Zealand Flight 901 an Antarctic sightseeing flight, collided with Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 257 occupants on board. The flight crew had not been informed that the computer coordinates for the flight path of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 had been changed the night before, directing the flight towards Mount Erebus rather than the usual path down McMurdo Sound. |
| 256 | December 12, 1985 | Arrow Air Flight 1285R | Douglas DC-8-63CF | Arrow Air Flight 1285R carrying American military personnel on a charter flight home for Christmas, crashed in Newfoundland; all 256 occupants on board died. The Canadian Aviation Safety Board investigating the cause of the crash issued two different reports: the majority report cited ice on the wings as cause of the crash; the minority report suggests an explosion was the likely cause. This was the deadliest aviation incident in Canadian history. |
| 239 | March 8, 2014 | Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 | Boeing 777-200ER | Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, lost contact with air traffic controllers over the South China Sea, deviated from its planned route, and was presumed lost in the southern Indian Ocean. It carried 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations, who are all presumed dead. A multinational search effort, the most extensive and expensive in aviation history, has thus far failed to locate the aircraft, though debris from the aircraft has been recovered from beaches around the Indian Ocean. Numerous theories have been offered to explain the disappearance of the flight, with pilot suicide considered most likely, but none have been confirmed. |
| 234 | September 26, 1997 | Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 | Airbus A300B4-220 | Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 which departed from Jakarta, Indonesia, and was preparing to land at Medan, North Sumatra, crashed into mountainous terrain, killing all 234 occupants on board. The causes included turning left instead of right as instructed by ATC and descending below the assigned altitude of 2,000 feet due to pilot error. It is the deadliest aviation disaster in Indonesia's history. |
| 230 | July 17, 1996 | TWA Flight 800 | Boeing 747-131 | TWA Flight 800 carrying 230 occupants, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, shortly after departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight to Paris and Rome. A lengthy investigation concluded that the probable cause of the accident was a short circuit in a fuel tank that contained an explosive mixture of fuel vapor and air. As a result, new requirements were developed to prevent future fuel tank explosions in aircraft. |
| 229 | September 2, 1998 | Swissair Flight 111 | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | Swissair Flight 111 carrying 215 passengers and 14 crew from New York City to Geneva, Switzerland, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 229 people aboard. After a lengthy investigation, an official report stated that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure, specifically the Personal TV Systems recently installed in the Business Class Cabin, allowed a fire to spread, resulting in a loss of control. |
| 228 | June 1, 2009 | Air France Flight 447 | Airbus A330-203 | Air France Flight 447 carrying 228 occupants, was en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France, when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft's flight recorders were not recovered from the ocean floor until May 2011, and the final investigative report was released in July 2012. It determined that the disaster was likely due to the aircraft's pitot tubes being obstructed by ice crystals, causing the autopilot to disconnect. The crew reacted incorrectly, leading to an aerodynamic stall from which the jet did not recover. |
| 228 | August 6, 1997 | Korean Air Flight 801 | Boeing 747-3B5 | Korean Air Flight 801 crashed on approach to the international airport in the United States territory of Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people aboard. Contributing factors in the crash were fatigue and errors by the flight crew, inadequate flight crew training, and a modification of the airport's altitude warning system that prevented it from detecting aircraft below a minimum safe altitude. |
| 227 | January 8, 1996 | 1996 Air Africa Antonov An-32 crash | Antonov An-32B | An Antonov An-32B aircraft with six crew members on board overshot the runway at N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and crashed into a market place. Four on board survived but 225 people on the ground were killed and an estimated 500 were injured (estimated 253 seriously injured). It is the crash with the most non-passenger ground fatalities (not including 9/11). It is usually known as the 1996 Air Africa crash. |
| 225 | May 25, 2002 | China Airlines Flight 611 | Boeing 747-209B | China Airlines Flight 611 bound for Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, disintegrated in mid-air and crashed into the Taiwan Strait 20 minutes after takeoff from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) in Taiwan. It was determined that the crash, which killed all 206 passengers and 19 crew members aboard the plane, was caused by improper repairs to the aircraft 22 years earlier when the aircraft encountered a tailstrike. |
| 224 | October 31, 2015 | Metrojet Flight 9268 | Airbus A321-231 | Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after departing Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, Egypt, en route to Pulkovo Airport, Saint Petersburg, Russia. All 224 occupants on board were killed. A branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for bringing down the jet, and a Russian investigation concluded that a bomb was detonated inside the plane at a high altitude. |
| 223 | May 26, 1991 | Lauda Air Flight 004 | Boeing 767-3Z9ER | Lauda Air Flight 004 broke up in midair over a remote area of Thailand due to an uncommanded deployment of a thrust reverser on one of the plane's engines, killing all 223 occupants aboard. The flight, which originated at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, and made a stopover at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, was en route to Vienna International Airport, Vienna, Austria, when the accident occurred. |
| 217 | October 31, 1999 | EgyptAir Flight 990 | Boeing 767-366ER | EgyptAir Flight 990 flying from Los Angeles International Airport, United States, to Cairo International Airport, Egypt, with a stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, killing all 217 occupants onboard. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the crash was deliberate action by the relief first officer in response to his removal from international service within Egyptair, a finding disputed by Egyptian authorities who maintain another cause of the accident. |
| 213 | January 1, 1978 | Air India Flight 855 | Boeing 747-237B | Air India Flight 855 crashed into the Arabian Sea just off the coast of Bombay, India, killing all 213 occupants on board. An investigation concluded that the captain became disoriented after the failure of one of the flight instruments in the cockpit, leading to "irrational control inputs" that caused the plane to crash. |
| 202 | February 16, 1998 | China Airlines Flight 676 | Airbus A300B4-622R | China Airlines Flight 676 en route from Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia, to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taoyuan International Airport), Taiwan, crashed into a road and residential neighborhood in Taoyuan, Taiwan, killing 182 passengers, 14 crew, and six people on the ground. An investigation determined that when the control tower ordered the pilot to abort his landing and "go around" for a second attempt, the pilot, who had unintentionally released the plane's autopilot, did nothing to take control of the plane for 11 seconds as he apparently thought the autopilot would initiate the go around. As the aircraft approached the airport, the pilot executed a sudden steep ascent that produced a stall and crash. China Airlines was also criticized for "insufficient training". |
| 200 | July 10, 1985 | Aeroflot Flight 5143 | Tupolev Tu-154B-2 | Aeroflot Flight 5143 on a domestic Karshi–Ufa–Leningrad route, crashed near Uchkuduk, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union, on the first leg of its route. All 200 occupants onboard were killed. An investigation concluded that the plane went down due to pilot error. The air crew used an inappropriately low airspeed, causing vibrations that they incorrectly interpreted as engine surges. As a result, they further reduced engine power, causing the aircraft to stall and crash. |
