Boeing 767

The 767 has one of the best records of any older widebody. In about 22.6 million passenger flights since 1982, only two crashes count against it: Lauda Air 004 in 1991 and Air China 129 in 2002. Its deadliest events were the 9/11 attacks, a hijacking and a pilot's deliberate crash, none of which says anything about how the aircraft flies. The catch is age: most passenger 767s still flying are more than 20 years old.

What the 767 is and where you fly on it

The 767 first flew in 1981 and entered service with United in 1982. It is a mid-size twin-aisle jet with seven or eight seats per row in economy. Versions are the 767-200, the longer 767-300 and 767-300ER, and the stretched 767-400ER, which only Delta and Continental ordered in numbers. About 1,330 have been built, including many freighters, and about 700 remain in service.

Delta and United fly the most passenger 767s, mostly across the Atlantic and on some domestic routes. ANA and JAL use them on Japanese domestic and regional flights. Many 767s now fly as freighters for Amazon Air, FedEx and UPS.

Design features that matter for safety

The 767 was designed together with the 757, with a glass cockpit and conventional flight controls without envelope protection. It flies with General Electric CF6, Pratt & Whitney JT9D or PW4000, or Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.

It also changed long-haul flying. In 1985 US regulators allowed 767s to fly up to 120 minutes from a diversion airport, the first ETOPS approval. That let a twin-engine jet cross the North Atlantic, a route that until then had needed three or four engines. Every long-haul twin since, from the A330 to the 787, built on that rule.

The one design fault that killed people was the thrust reverser. On Lauda Air 004 in May 1991, the left engine's reverser deployed in flight shortly after leaving Bangkok, and the aircraft broke up over Thailand, killing all 223 on board. Boeing and the FAA then required extra locks to stop a reverser opening in flight.

The fatal record

Two events count up to 7 October 2026:

• 26 May 1991, Lauda Air 004, Bangkok to Vienna: 223 of 223 died after the uncommanded reverser deployment.
• 15 April 2002, Air China 129, Beijing to Busan: on a circling approach in bad weather, the crew lost sight of the runway, did not go around and hit a hill. 129 of 166 died.

Five other fatal events are excluded, as our methodology explains. American 11 and United 175 were flown into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 (92 and 65 on board). Ethiopian 961 was hijacked in 1996 and ditched off the Comoros after running out of fuel; 125 of 175 died. EgyptAir 990 crashed into the Atlantic in 1999 in what the NTSB found was a deliberate act by the relief first officer, a finding Egypt disputed. An Atlas Air 767 flying cargo for Amazon crashed near Houston in 2019, killing its three crew; it carried no passengers.

The 767 also survived one famous near-miss: in 1983 an Air Canada 767 ran out of fuel after a unit conversion error and glided to a safe landing at Gimli, Manitoba.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight apps and booking sites show the ICAO code: B762 for the 767-200, B763 for the -300 and -300ER, and B764 for the -400ER.

A 767 flown by a major airline is a low-risk flight. If you have a choice, comfort is a better reason to pick between a 767 and a newer 787 than safety: the record does not separate them much.