• Sunday's Jeju Air crash has again raised concerns about flight safety.
• Boeing's 737-800 model is used by nearly 200 airlines and has a strong safety record.
• The 737-800 is different from Boeing's 737 Max family, which has faced significant issues.

The Boeing plane that crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179, has a remarkable safety record.

The 737-800 model is among the world's most widely used passenger planes, with some 4,400 in service for nearly 200 airlines, according to data from Cirium.

In its nearly 30 years of service, the 737 variant — much older than the problematic Max models —  has seen 1,100 fatalities from 17 accidents, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network, a nonprofit research organization.

That's a relatively low crash rate, given the thousands of plane units produced and the millions of passenger flights completed. The model remains a backbone of global aviation.

"The 737-800 is a great airplane, the workhorse of the world, if you like," Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider. "It is the most reliable aircraft out there."

Human error has contributed to most of the fatal 737-800 accidents.

Boeing 737-800 crashes

The first fatal crash involving the 737-800 was Brazil's Gol Airlines in 2006. The plane experienced a midair collision with a private jet and broke up, killing all 154 passengers and crew.

Investigators said errors by an air traffic controller and the private pilots were to blame.

Pilot error was a factor in several other 737-800 crashes, such as a 2007 Kenya Air flight, two Air India Express accidents in 2010 and 2020, and a 2016 Flydubai crash.

No US airline has experienced a fatal 737-800 crash, though some have been damaged due to things like mechanical issues, weather, bird strikes, and pilot error.

Some 737-800 accidents were due to other factors. In 2020, 176 people died after a Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by Iran.

In 2022, a China Eastern Airlines 737-800 nose-dived, killing 132, but the investigation is ongoing. A Wall Street Journal report that year said US officials had pointed to someone in the cockpit intentionally crashing the jet.

A China Airlines plane that crashed but suffered no fatalities in 2007 pointed to airline mechanic error and inadequate maintenance guidance from Boeing, Japanese investigators found.

Following the crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration instructed 737 operators in the US to ensure the maintenance component that caused the accident was properly installed.

Which airlines fly the 737-800?

The 737-800 is part of Boeing's "next generation" or "NG" line of planes, which also includes the smaller 737-600 and 737-700 and the larger 737-900.

The 737-800 first flew in 1998, and the model competes with the Airbus A320 narrowbody jetliner.

The NG planes were an upgrade to the classic 737 models with more range and fuel efficiency. The 737-800 can fly about 3,400 miles and carry up to 189 passengers, making it popular for short and medium-haul flying.

Cirium data shows commercial airlines operated the 737-800 on nearly 5.9 million flights in 2024. More than 6.2 million are scheduled through November 2025.

American Airlines is the biggest operator of the 737-800, with 303 in service, per Cirium. Irish budget carrier Ryanair and Southwest Airlines follow with 205 and 204, respectively.

US airlines Alaska Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Sun Country Airlines, and United Airlines also operate the 737-800, but operators reach virtually every corner of the globe.

The Boeing 737-800 is not the same as the 737 Max

The 737-800 model does not have the same system that caused its successor, the 737 Max, to crash in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

That system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, was blamed for the crashes.

Thanks to their more powerful and fuel-efficient engines, the Max 8 and Max 9 planes in service can fly about 500 miles further than the 737-800. The Max jets can also hold more passengers compared.

Boeing stopped producing the 737-800 in late 2019 when it replaced the NG family with the Max.

There are about 4,800 Max jets on backorder. Production resumed in December following a worker strike at its Washington factories.

• People in the back sections of two different plane crashes on Wednesday and Sunday survived.
• A 2015 study from Time Magazine found lower fatality rates in the rear section of aircraft.
• Pilot actions and the circumstances of the crash impact survivability across all seat areas.

Video footage of survivors emerging from the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Wednesday, followed by two people surviving a Jeju Air crash on Sunday, showed it's possible to survive such catastrophic events.

29 people survived the Azerbaijan crash in Kazakhstan, and 38 people died. Two flight attendants seated in the tail section of the Jeju plane that crashed in South Korea lived, while the 179 others on board died.

CNN reported that emergency services said the tail section of the Jeju plane was the only piece somewhat intact after Sunday's accident.

The survivability of any plane crash largely depends on the circumstances of the accident. It's not yet known what caused the Azerbaijan or Jeju crashes or how any of the people on board either jet survived.

In general, however, seating arrangements and the actions of crew on board can contribute to survivability.

Specifically, seats in the rear of a plane — the section from which the Azerbaijan survivors were emerging and the location of the jumpseats the Jeju crew would have been sitting — are historically the safest, data shows.

Federal data analyzed by Time Magazine in 2015, which looked at 17 crashes between 1985 and 2000 that had both survivors and fatalities and seat maps available, found the back third of the aircraft had a fatality rate of 32%.

The rear middle seats had the lowest fatality rate at 28%.

That compares to the 39% fatality rate in the middle third section and the 38% fatality rate in the front third section. The study found the highest fatality rate was in the middle section aisle seats at 44%.

The report followed a 2007 analysis by the science and technology magazine Popular Mechanics.

It analyzed 20 crashes dating back to 1971 and found the survival rate in the aft, or rear, section was 69%, which is a 31% fatality rate. The middle section and front sections had survival rates of 56% and 49%, respectively.

The rear seats can experience less G-force

The back of the plane may be safer because, when a plane crashes, the front and middle sections often absorb much of the impact energy.

This can allow the back of the aircraft to remain more intact during head-on collisions with water or terrain, even if the rear portion separates from the plane.

The sole four people who survived a Japan Airlines crash in 1985 were seated in the aft section when the plane slammed into a mountainside. 520 others died.

A Delta Air Lines crash in 1985 in Texas saw 27 survivors, most of whom were seated in the back of the aircraft. The aft section broke free during impact.

In 2012, the Discovery Channel purposefully crashed an unmanned Boeing 727 into the desert with test dummies on board to analyze survivability.

They found that the middle and aft sections were the least fatal, with the front section experiencing 12 times the force of gravity. The middle and aft sections experienced a G-force of eight and six, respectively.

Crew actions can increase survivability

Pilot handling and cabin crew responses can also improve the chances of surviving a plane crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines president Samir Rzayev spoke about the pilots' "heroism" to reporters on Wednesday. Both died in the crash.

"While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew's valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history," Rzayev said, according to the Report, an Azerbaijani news agency.

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is one of the more famous examples of pilots whose quick decision-making is credited with saving lives.

In 2009, Sullenberger's US Airways plane lost engine power over New York City. He responded by ditching the aircraft in the Hudson River because there were no runways in gliding range. All 155 passengers and crew survived.

Decades earlier, a United Airlines plane crashed in Iowa in 1989 due to an engine failure and subsequent hydraulics loss, meaning aircraft control was severely limited.

The pilots kept the landing gear down to absorb some of the crash shock and maintained relative control of the plane as it crashed. 184 of the 296 passengers and crew survived.

Flight attendants have also been credited for saving lives. During a fiery Japan Airlines runway collision in January, flight crews' quick response and communication were cited for the successful evacuation of all 379 people on board.

There is no universal safest seat

Federal authorities say there is no safest seat on a plane because every crash is different and depends on factors like how the plane impacted the ground and whether there was a fire.

Sully's water landing is an example of how the back of the plane could be most at risk after landing because it was taking on water with no exit doors available — so those passengers were among the last to exit.

In the United crash in Iowa, most of the survivors were in the rows behind first class but in front of the wings. They likely lived because of how the plane hit the ground and broke during landing, allowing people to more easily escape. Some people who did not perish on impact died due to smoke inhalation, an NTSB investigation found.

In 1977, a Pan Am and a KLM Boeing 747 collided in Tenerife, Spain, killing 583 people and becoming the world's deadliest plane crash. However, 61 people seated in the front section of the Pan Am plane survived.

The KLM jet hit the middle and aft sections of the Pan Am aircraft, causing the front of the Pan Am jet to be less severely damaged and allowing people to escape via an opening near the left wing.

Despite the different outcomes of the varying air crashes over the decades, flying is the safest mode of transportation — regardless of where you sit — thanks to strict safety laws and improvements in aircraft design.

A 2020 National Transportation Safety Board survivability report found that 1.3% of people involved in commercial airline accidents between 2001 and 2017 died, down from 4.7% between 1983 and 2000.