There were 1000's of commercial flight deaths each decade since the 1960's. There have been ~50 since 2010 and only 1 passenger on a real top 10 airline flight during that time. Here what passenger fatalities looked like in the past by decade:
- 1960's = ~2.1K pax
- 1970's = ~1.5K pax
- 1980's = ~1K pax
- 1990's = ~1.2K pax
- 2000's = ~0.7 pax
- 2010'2 + <30 pax
I'm sure there were aspect that were better, but it was also more expensive, smoke filled, and not as safe. There will always be change. Some good. Some bad. But it's almost never just bad.