2024 in aviation

This article is a list of significant events that occur in aviation in 2024.

January

 * 2 January
 * A runway collision at Haneda Airport in Tokyo occurred when Japan Airlines Flight 516, operated by an Airbus A350-900 arriving from Sapporo, collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft and both aircraft caught on fire. This resulted in the complete destruction of both aircraft. All 367 passengers and 12 crew members of the Airbus were evacuated. There were six occupants on board the Coast Guard aircraft, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8; the captain escaped with serious injuries whilst the remaining five crew members were killed. The Coast Guard aircraft was scheduled to provide relief to Niigata in response to the previous day's Noto Peninsula earthquake.


 * 4 January
 * A Bellanca 17-30A Super Viking crashed off the coast of Bequia in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Actor Christian Oliver and his two daughters were killed in the accident along with the pilot.


 * 5 January
 * Shortly after departing Portland International Airport in Oregon, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 operating as Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 suffered an explosive decompression when a plug covering an unused exit door blew out. The aircraft made a safe return to Portland with all 177 occupants alive. The FAA subsequently ordered all 737 MAX 9 planes fitted with door plugs to be grounded for inspection. It was subsequently reported that Alaska Airlines and United Airlines both discovered faults on other 737s.


 * 16 January
 * The United States Department of Justice blocked the proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines by JetBlue, citing that it would create a lack of competition in low-cost carriers. The stock price of Spirit Airlines dropped by 47% after the decision was made.


 * 18 January
 * At the WINGS India 2024 event in Hyderabad, Akasa Air placed an order for 150 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, including both the MAX 10 and MAX 200 variants.


 * 20 January
 * A Dassault Falcon 10 carrying six people crashed in the Kuf Ab District of Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province, killing two of its occupants.


 * 23 January
 * A BAe Jetstream 32 operating as Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashed shortly after takeoff from Fort Smith Airport, Northwest Territories, Canada, when at 500 m (1,600 ft), killing six out of the seven on board.


 * 24 January
 * A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft, reportedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war along with three other passengers and six crew from Chkalovsky air base near Moscow to Belgorod, crashed in the Belgorod region of Russia.

February

 * 6 February
 * A Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter piloted by former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera lost control and crashed into Lake Ranco in Chile. Piñera was killed and the other three people on board survived.


 * 9 February
 * A Bombardier Challenger 600 operated as Hop-A-Jet Flight 823 crashed into a vehicle on Interstate 75 in Collier County, Florida while attempting to make an emergency landing. Two of the five on board were killed in the crash.


 * 10 February
 * A chartered Eurocopter EC130 helicopter crashed in a desert near the California-Nevada border after a fire on board. Two pilots and four passengers were on board and none survived the crash.


 * 18 February
 * Air Serbia Flight 324, an Embraer 195 operated by Marathon Airlines, struck landing lights on takeoff at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The aircraft flew for another hour and made an emergency landing at the same airport with a gaping hole in the fuselage. All 111 occupants were reported safe.


 * 20–25 February
 * The Singapore Airshow was held. Highlights included orders for Airbus from Vietjet (20 A330neos) and Starlux Airlines (three A330neos and five A350Fs), Boeing from Thai Airways (45 787-9s) and Royal Brunei Airlines (four 787-9s), and Comac from Tibet Airlines (40 C919s and 10 ARJ21s).


 * 21 February
 * The TAI TF Kaan, a fifth-gen stealth fighter being developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries, performed its maiden flight.


 * 26 February
 * Canadian Budget airline Lynx Air ceased operations due to financial issues.

March

 * 5 March
 * A Dash 8-300 operating as Safarilink Aviation Flight 53 from Wilson Airport, Nairobi to Diani near Mombasa was involved in a mid-air collision with a Cessna 172 operated by a local flying school. The Dash returned to Wilson and landed safely with no injuries among the 39 passengers and five crew. The Cessna crashed in Nairobi National Park killing the two occupants.


 * 8 March
 * David E. Harris, the first African American pilot who flew for a major airline, died at the age of 89.


 * 10 March
 * A Boeing 787-9 operating as LATAM Airlines Flight 800 suffers an in-flight upset, injuring 50 of the 272 occupants on board the aircraft. The plane made an emergency landing at Auckland Airport.


 * 12 March
 * A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed near Belgorod after suffering an engine fire. All 15 on board were killed.


 * 22 March
 * The Boom XB-1, a prototype/technology demonstrator supersonic aircraft developed by Boom Supersonic, conducted its first flight from Mojave Air and Space Port. The flight reached a maximum altitude of 7120 ft and a top speed of 246 kn during its 12-minute flight. The company aims to use the XB-1 to develop its Overture supersonic airliner, of which the XB-1 is a roughly 1/3rd scale model.


 * 31 March
 * A Boeing 727-200 operated by Safe Air on a scheduled flight from Juba International Airport to Malakal Airport, South Sudan, undershot the runway after experiencing technical issues. The aircraft collided into a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 belonging to African Express Airways that had crashed around two months earlier at the same airport. All seven occupants survived, with only one person injured.

April

 * 4 April
 * US company Skydweller Aero completes the world's first unmanned flight of a large solar-powered aircraft.


 * 13 April
 * Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait and Israel all closed their airspace in response to the 2024 Iranian strikes in Israel.


 * 17 April
 * The FAA implemented a ground stop for Alaska Airlines and its subsidiary Horizon Air (meaning planes were not permitted to take off) after a notification by the airline. Alaska airlines made the request after an issue surfaced during a routine system upgrade essential for ensuring aircraft weight and balance, although the exact nature of the issue has not been disclosed. The airline stated it had acted "out of an abundance of caution".


 * 18 April
 * Kenya's highest ranking military officer, General Francis Ogolla, and nine other members of the Kenya Defence Forces were killed in the crash of a UH-1 Huey in western Kenya.


 * 23 April
 * Two Royal Malaysian Navy helicopters collided over Lumut, Perak in Malaysia during a formation flight as part of a rehearsal for the upcoming Navy day parade. All 10 people on board the Leonardo AW139 and Eurocopter Fennec were killed.


 * 25 April
 * Southwest Airlines and American Airlines reported large first-quarter economic losses, with Southwest losing US$231 million and American expecting to lay off over 2,000 employees during the remainder of the year. In addition, Southwest is to stop flying to Cozumel, Syracuse and Bellingham airports. These declines have limited the airlines' abilities to order more aircraft in the near future, with Southwest cancelling some of its Boeing 737 orders for the year.


 * 30 April
 * Australian low-cost airline Bonza which launched operations in January 2023, enters voluntary administration with all services suspended.

May

 * 3 May
 * Dick Rutan dies at the age of 85 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He was the pilot of the first non-stop round-the-world flight on board the Voyager aircraft in 1986. He was the older brother of Burt Rutan.


 * 17 May
 * Bette Nash, the world's longest-serving flight attendant, dies at the age of 88, after working for Eastern Air Lines and then American Airlines for a total of 67 years.


 * 19 May
 * A Bell 212 helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and the Supreme Leader's representative in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, crashed near the Iranian city of Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan. There were no survivors.


 * 21 May
 * A Boeing 777-300ER operating as Singapore Airlines Flight 321 flying from London to Singapore, encountered severe turbulence killing 1 passenger and injuring 104. The plane made an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.


 * 27 May
 * Following the closure of Porto Alegre Airport on 3 May for an undetermined time, due to flooding in the Rio Grande do Sul region, Brazilian airlines announce that limited services will be operated from Canoas Air Force Base. A nearby shopping centre will host check-in and other terminal facilities. A number of aircraft were also damaged.

June

 * 7 June
 * A Beechcraft T-34 aircraft piloted by former NASA astronaut and United States Air Force pilot, Bill Anders, author of the iconic Earthrise photograph, crashed near the US-Canada border. Anders did not survive the crash.


 * 10 June
 * A Malawi Air Force Dornier 228 carrying Vice-President of Malawi Saulos Chilima, former First Lady Patricia Shanil Muluzi, and seven other occupants crashed in Chikangawa Forest Reserve in Mzimba District, killing all nine occupants on board.


 * 30 June
 * Boeing announces the acquisition of key supplier Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion, with Airbus set to acquire the Spirit programmes producing major components for Airbus aircraft.

July

 * 1 July
 * A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operating as Air Europa Flight 045 from Madrid to Montevideo experienced severe turbulence that resulted in at least 40 injuries, including multiple hospitalizations.


 * 12 July
 * A Sukhoi Superjet 100-95LR on a ferry flight from Lukhovitsy to Moscow, operating as Gazpromavia Flight 9608, crashed whilst attempting an emergency landing. All three occupants on board were killed.


 * 19 July


 * During the 2024 CrowdStrike incident, 5,078 air flights around the world, amounting to 4.6% of those scheduled that day, were cancelled. In North America, a ground stop was issued by United, Delta, and American Airlines. Flights in the air continued flying, but no new flights were to take off. In Europe, Prague Airport in Czechia, Budapest Airport in Hungary, Bratislava Airport in Slovakia, and Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands experienced issues. Planes were not allowed to land at Zurich Airport.


 * 22–26 July
 * The Farnborough International Airshow is scheduled to be held.


 * 22–28 July
 * The EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is scheduled to be held at Wittman Regional Airport, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States.

November

 * 13–15 November
 * The Bahrain International Airshow is scheduled to be held.

Deadliest crash
The deadliest crash so far in 2024 is the crash of a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 on 24 January, with 74 people reportedly on board.

The deadliest crash of a commercial airliner flight occurred when a BAe Jetstream 32 operating Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashed shortly after takeoff on 23 January, killing six out of the seven on board.