Safest seats on a plane: Where to sit – front, middle, or rear?

Two air crashes in the space of five days in two different countries have reopened the debate over the safety of air travel as people around the globe get ready to fly to their favourite holiday destinations to welcome the New Year 2025.

On December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan killing 38 people. Four days later, on Sunday (December 29), a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed upon landing at the Muan International Airport in South Korea resulting in the death of 179 persons.

In the aftermath of the two aircraft accidents, a debate has begun over the safest part of an airplane in case of a crash.

Also read: Jeju Air plane crash | Both survivors in shock, unable to recall anything about crash

As per reports, the Azerbaijan Airlines plane’s survivors were pulled out from the rear part of the aircraft. In South Korea too, the two who survived were at the back of the airplane.

Safe seats on an airplane

Is it a coincidence or does the rear part of the aircraft offer more safety for the passengers? Here is what experts have said.

In 2015, Time magazine analysed 35 years of US's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data, and as per the report, the seats in the back had less fatality rate when compared to the front and middle parts of the aircraft. And, the middle seat is the safest.

Also read: Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 on board crashes in Kazakhstan

“The analysis found that the seats in the back third of the aircraft had a 32 per cent fatality rate, compared with 39 per cent in the middle third and 38 per cent in the front third. Looking at row position, we found that the middle seats in the rear of the aircraft had the best outcomes (28 per cent fatality rate). The worst-faring seats were on the aisle in the middle third of the cabin (44 per cent fatality rate),” the report said.

Further, it said, quoting a study published in 2008 from the University of Greenwich which looked at emergency exit usage after an accident, “After a crash, survivors who are near an exit are more likely to get out alive.”

However, it added, “Of course, the chances of dying in an aircraft accident have less to do with where you sit and more to do with the circumstances surrounding the crash. If the tail of the aircraft takes the brunt of the impact, the middle or front passengers may fare better than those in the rear. We found that survival was random in several accidents — those who perished were scattered irregularly between survivors. It’s for this reason that the FAA and other airline safety experts say there is no safest seat on the plane.”

'Flying is safe'

As per a report in Popular Mechanics, quoting reports from the US’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the rear cabin offers the highest rate of survival.

According to them, after analysing 20 air crashes in the US since 1971, those seated in the back had 69 per cent of survival and the least was business/first class at 49 per cent. Those seated ahead of the wing and over the wing had 56 per cent survival chances in the event of a crash.

Also read: Putin apologises for Azerbaijan air crash

Despite concerns over the recent two crashes, experts say air travel remains the safest way to travel.

“Overall commercial aviation is incredibly safe. You are far safer once you get on the airplane than you are in the car on the way to the airport,” Kristy Kiernan, Associate Director of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was quoted as saying by USA Today. “It’s understandable that people get nervous when something big like this happens, but aviation remains incredibly safe with numerous redundancies.”