So far this year, 680 people have died, higher than 12-month totals for the past three years. With 916 deaths, 2005 was the worst year. IATA points out that about 100,000 flights take place every day without incident with passenger trips on airlines exceeding three billion last year.

London (AsiaNews/Agencies) - With three fatal airline crashes in a week 2014 is shaping up to be the worst year in almost a decade for passenger fatalities.

Yesterday a plane crashed - apparently because of bad weather - in the Sahara Desert, after takeoff in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). On Wednesday, a plane crashed in Taiwan due to a tropical storm. Last week a Malaysian plane was shot down over Ukraine.

France confirmed that the passengers on the Air Algérie flight are all dead. This brings this year's death toll from plane crashes to 680, higher than 12-month totals for the past three years.

With five months remaining, this would make it the worst year since 2005, when 916 lives were lost.

However, the number of deaths is relative, Ascend's head of safety Paul Hayes said. Fatal accidents are now very rare.

About 100,000 flights take place every day without incident worldwide, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement. In 2013, passenger trips on airlines exceeded 3 billion.

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