Last year was the safest in the history of commercial aviation despite the loss of two high-profile Malaysia Airlines flights in which hundreds of people were killed , according to industry experts . While more people died in air accidents in 2014 than the . average in recent years , the number of fatal accidents compared . with the total number of flights was a record low , the International Air Transport Association ( IATA ) said . The organisations said in a new report that there were 12 fatal accidents in 2014 with 641 fatalities , versus 19 fatal accidents and 517 fatalities per year in the five-year period between 2009 and 2013 . The downing of MH17 , in which 298 people died , was not included in the safety report because it was not technically classed as an accident . Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 takes off from Schipol airport near Amsterdam prior to being shot down as it flew over Ukraine . 'While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014 , the . data show that flying continues to improve its safety . performance , ' said Tony Tyler , IATA 's director general and chief . executive officer . The statistics translate into an accident rate , measured in 'hull . losses ' per 1 million flights , of 0.23 , or the equivalent of one . for every 4.4 million flights . IATA 's 2014 statistics did not include the loss of Malaysia . Airlines Flight MH17 , which was shot down by a surface-to-air . anti-aircraft missile in Ukraine last June and so not classified . as an accident . All 298 people on board were killed . 'To the flying public an air tragedy is an air tragedy , . regardless of how it is classified , ' said Tyler . 'In 2014 we saw . a reduction in the number of fatal accidents - and that would be . true even if we were to include MH17 in the total . ' The other high-profile event of 2014 , the disappearance of . Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to . Beijing on March 8 , 2014 , with 239 passengers and crew , has . become one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation . An extensive search in the southern Indian Ocean , where . satellite data showed that the Boeing 777-200ER ended up after . being diverted from its original flight path , has not found any . sign of the plane . An investigation report that was released on . Sunday did not reveal anything new . Australian deputy prime minister Warren Truss shows a new search area in the Indian Ocean where rescue crews are continuing to look for any signs of MH370 's whereabouts . An Australian Defence Vessel sails through the Indian Ocean as no trace has yet been found of the missing aircraft . U.S. Navy aircrewman Karl Shinn searches from above for any signs of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane . The International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ) , a . United Nations body that regulates global aviation , proposed . after MH370 that commercial aircraft report their position every . 15 minutes instead of the current norm of 30-40 minutes . Tyler told reporters at a briefing in Hong Kong that such a. system would be in place by November 2016 . 'At the moment there 's no technology that can track aircraft . everywhere in the world over time , ' he said . 'These things do n't . happen overnight . ' New space-based technologies might make real-time tracking . possible soon , he added . 'The promise is to be able to identify aircraft wherever . they are in the world pretty much in real-time with no gaps in . coverage , ' he said . 'It may well be that this is the way we . should go , however that technology wo n't be available for two or . three years to come . ' Three of last year 's 12 plane crashes involved jet aircraft and accounted for the bulk of the deaths . In December , an AirAsia jet carrying 162 people crashed into the Java Sea . In July , an Air Algerie jet went down in Mali during bad weather , killing all 116 aboard . The nine other crashes involved turboprop aircraft , including a TransAsia ATR-72 that crashed in July on the Penghu island chain in the Taiwan Strait , killing 58 people . Another TransAsia turboprop crashed in February this year , killing more than 40 people . The wreckage of AirAsia QZ8501 is removed from a rescue vessel in Jakarta , Indonesia . The plane crashed into the Java Sea on December 28 , killing all 162 on board . The AirAsia crash was one of three major incidents to rock the aviation industry last year .
Last year was the safest in history of commercial aviation , report claims . Comment: But MH17 death toll not included in report because it was not an accident . An AirAsia flight also crashed into the Java Sea , killing all 162 on board .