AIRLINES → RANK #11

KLM

VENERABLE

The oldest airline still operating under its original name.

SOURCE: AVIATION SAFETY NETWORK (COMPILED) · AVIATION SAFETY NETWORK (opens in a new window) · checked 2026-07-09
Years without fatal accident
49 and counting
Last fatal accident
1977
Founded
1919
Fleet size
~120
Home country
Netherlands
IATA / ICAO
KL / KLM
WHY THIS IS REASSURING

At this level of safety, the gap between major airlines is statistically negligible. Flying KLM — or any major scheduled carrier — you would need to fly every day for over 25,000 years to statistically expect a fatal accident.

SOURCE: MIT / ARNOLD BARNETT · METHODOLOGY →
WHAT THIS NUMBER DOESN'T TELL YOU

This figure counts years since a fatal accident, not flights — KLM has no sourced per-airline flight total, so it can't say how many trips sit behind the record. One airline's own history, however long or short, is a far smaller sample than the worldwide figure this site already publishes: 99.999993% of boardings end safely — 1 death per 13,700,000 boardings, worldwide, 2018–2022 (MIT / ARNOLD BARNETT, 2024).

That's the whole record, checked 2026-07-09. Reading it again tonight won't change what's in it.

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