Flying in commercial aircraft is extremely safe “per passenger mile”. That means one plane with 100 passengers that makes one safe flight of 1000 miles will have logged 100,000 passenger miles.
https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics/deaths-by-transportation-mode/
According to the NSC chart, the risk of any one person dying as a result of the flight would have been 0.000001%.
If the flight was cancelled, those hundred people might have driven the 1000 miles to the destination instead. Any one person’s risk of dying from being in a car during that trip would then have been 0.00054%.
The differences are huge: one trained, medically inspected, competence tested, and biannually certified professional pilot vs 100 drivers who mostly had to pass a vision test; professionally maintained and inspected vehicles instead of whatever rolling junk you can pour gas in; a robustly monitored air traffic control system vs some signs, lights, and cops; and of course many times fewer hazards like traffic, pedestrians, wildlife, etc. And all that contributes to the overall outcome of safety, as we can see reflected in the statistics.
So yes, flying commercially is much safer than making the same trip in a car.
