An Air India plane crashed on Thursday, killing all but one of the 242 people aboard in one of the deadliest disasters involving a passenger aircraft in the last two decades.

The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad en route to London Gatwick Airport. There was one survivor, while at least 28 people on the ground were also killed, bringing the overall death toll to at least 269.

From a statistical perspective, it is safer to travel by air than by road, according to experts. But airline crashes involving large passenger jets, when they do happen, frequently have high death tolls.

Washington, January 2025 — A regional passenger jet from Wichita, Kan., collided with a U.S. Army helicopter shortly before it had been about to land at Reagan National Airport. The plane plunged into the Potomac River. In all, 67 people were killed. Aviation investigators have yet to announce the cause of the crash, which happened at night.

South Korea, December 2024 — A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 that had taken off from Bangkok and was landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea crash-landed, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. It was the country’s worst air disaster in decades. Officials have not yet announced the results of their investigation.

China, March 2022 — A China Eastern Airlines domestic flight from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China, to Guangzhou, a major city in the southeastern province of Guangdong, crashed, killing all 132 people on board. The crash of the Boeing 737-800 was the country’s worst air disaster in decades.

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