This is a list of aviation-related events from 2004.

• 2 January – SeveralBritish Airways flights fromLondon Heathrow Airport to Washington, D.C., andRiyadh, Saudi Arabia are cancelled due to security fears.
• 3 January –Flash Airlines Flight 604, a charteredBoeing 737-3Q8, crashes into theRed Sea off the coast ofEgypt, killing all 148 aboard.
• 13 January –Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154, anYakovlev Yak-40 crashes inUzbekistan's capital ofTashkent, killing all 37 aboard.

• Thai AirAsia begins flight operations, offering domestic airline service inThailand.
• The Spanish airlineVueling is founded. It will begin flight operations inJuly.
• TheBelgium-based airlineBelgiumExel is founded and begins flight operations.
• 10 February –Kish Air Flight 7170, theFokker 50EP-LCA, crashes into the ground while on final approach to a landing atSharjah International Airport inSharjah in theUnited Arab Emirates, killing 43 of the 46 people on board and injuring all three survivors.
• 12 February –United Airlines creates a new airline,Ted, to serve as a divisional brand of United serving the low-cost vacation market.
• 19 February – TheEvergreen 747 Supertanker makes its first flight. Based on theBoeing 747-200 cargo aircraft and capable of carrying 19,600U.S. gallons (16,320Imperial gallons; 74,194liters) of water, it is the world's largestaerial firefighting aircraft.
• 23 February – The US Army cancels theBoeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche attack helicopter program. It had been planned to purchase as many as 650 Comanches, but it was argued that cancellation would free up funds for more urgent army aviation priorities. A total of $6.9 billion had already been spent on the RAH-66.^[1]
• 26 February –President of MacedoniaBoris Trajkovski and all eight other people on board are killed when aMacedonian governmentBeechcraft Super King Air 200 (registration Z3-BAB) crashes into a mountainside inHerzegovina near the villages ofHuskovici andRotimlja while on approach in thick fog and heavy rain toMostar Airport inMostar,Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[2][3]
• 29 February – Canadian artistToni Onley is killed when theLake LA-4-200 Buccaneeramphibian he is piloting crashes into theFraser River nearMaple Ridge,British Columbia,Canada, while he is practicing takeoffs and landings. The plane sinks in 10 meters (33 feet) of water.^[2][4]

• 27 March –NASA'sX-43 pilotless plane breaks world speed record for an atmospheric engine by briefly flying at 7,700 kilometers (4,800 mi) per hour (seven times the speed of sound)
• 31 March –Mexicana leaves theStar Alliance.

• 4 April –Alaska Airlines discontinues service between San Francisco andTucson.
• 14 April –Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815, anEmbraer EMB 120ER Brasilia, crashes on approach to a landing atManaus,Brazil, killing all 33 people on board.
• 18 April – Indian film starSoundarya and all three other people on board are killed when theirCessna 180 crashes in a field and burns just after takeoff fromJakkur Airfield inBangalor,India.^[2]
• 26 April –Alaska Airlines begins service between Seattle andChicago-O'Hare.
• 30 April –Aerobatic pilotIan Groom is killed when hisSukhoi Su-31 crashes into theAtlantic Ocean while he is practicingspins offFort Lauderdale,Florida, in preparation for theAir & Sea Show.^[2]

• US Airways joins theStar Alliance.
• Bucharest Otopeni International Airport inBucharest,Romania, is renamedBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport.
• 1 May – The British airlineDuo Airways (formerlyMaersk Air UK) ceases operations, with at least four of its seven aircraft impounded atBirmingham Airport.^[5]
• 5 May –Air France andNetherlands-basedKLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) merge to form the new airlineAir France–KLM.
• 9 May
  • Southwest Airlines begins service toPhiladelphia International Airport inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • American Eagle Flight 5401, anATR 72, crashes on landing atLuis Muñoz Marín International Airport inSan Juan,Puerto Rico, injuring 17 of the 26 people on board.
• 12 May
  • The lastF-4 Phantom II fighters are withdrawn fromIsraeli Air Force service.
  • Irish airlineJetGreen Airways, which had only begun operations with a singleBoeing 757wet leased fromIcelandair on 4 May, ceases operations.^[6]
• 23 May –Frontier Airlines begins service to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;Billings, Montana; andSpokane, Washington.
• 25 May – Australianlow cost airlineJetstar Airways begins operations.^[7]
• 27 May –Delta Air Lines begins service betweenCincinnati, Ohio, andNew Haven, Connecticut.

• 1 June
  • Air Baltic launches service fromVilnius,Lithuania, initially to five destinations.
  • America West Airlines starts service betweenPhoenix andAnchorage.
• 6 June –Alaska Airlines starts service betweenDenver andAnchorage and discontinues service betweenSan Jose andTucson.
• 16 June –Atlantic Coast Airlines begins service as alow-cost carrier under the new nameIndependence Air.
• 18 June – The first missile strike by an Americanunmanned aerial vehicle insidePakistan takes place when anAGM-114 Hellfire fired by anMQ-1 Predator strikes the house of localTaliban commanderNek Muhammad Wazir inKari Kot,South Waziristan, killing him, his two brothers, and two bodyguards.^[8]
• 20 June –Frontier Airlines begins service toNashville, Tennessee.
• 21 June –SpaceShipOne is the first non-government-builtspacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.
• 26 June –Belavia inaugurates service betweenBelarus andHanover,Germany.
• 29 June – AboardNorthwest Airlines Flight 327, aBoeing 757-200 bound fromDetroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport inRomulus,Michigan, toLos Angeles International Airport inLos Angeles,California, journalistAnnie Jacobsen, a writer forWomensWallStreet, and her family report toair marshals that 14Syrian men – musicians traveling to a performance – aboard the airliner are acting suspiciously and may be performing a "dry run" for a future terrorist attack. The air marshals disagree, and the Jacobsen family becomes so agitated and vocal that the air marshals begin to suspect them of trying to draw out the air marshals so that terrorists can target the marshals. Jacobsen later writes about the incident, bringing it to national attention in theUnited States.

• 1 July
  • The Spanish airlineVueling begins flight operations.
  • Cape Air begins flights in theMariana Islands. It operates under theContinental Connection brand.
• 13 July –Air Moldova becomes a member of theInternational Air Transport Association.
• 14–20 July – The14th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place inHerning,Denmark. Individual winners: 1. Jiří Filip & Michal Filip (Czech), 2. František Cihlář & Milos Fiala (Czech), 3. Krzysztof Wieczorek & Krzysztof Skrętowicz (Poland); team winners: 1.Czech Republic, 2.Poland, 3.France.
• 19–24 July – The16th FAI World Precision Flying Championship takes place in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) –3Xtrim, 2. Petr Opat (Czech) –Cessna 152, 3. Wacław Wieczorek (Poland) –PZL Wilga 2000; team winners: 1. Poland, 2. Czech Republic, 3. France.
• 23 July –Air Ukraine'sair operator's certificate is revoked. The airline had not operated since declaringbankruptcy inDecember 2002.

• 4 August –Independence Air's status as aUnited Express carrier comes to an end.
• 9 August – Several member states of thePacific Islands Forum sign thePacific Islands Civil Aviation Safety and Security Treaty inApia,Samoa. The treaty will enter into force on11 June 2005. It formally confirms thePacific Aviation Safety Office, which had been formed informally in 2002.
• 13 August –Air Tahoma Flight 185, aConvair 580 on a cargo flight, runs out of fuel due to pilot error and crashes short of the runway on final approach toCincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport inHebron,Kentucky, killing one of its two crew members.
• 24 August – After departingDomodedovo International Airport inMoscow,Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303, aTupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name "Crusty"), explodes overRussia'sTula Oblast and crashes, killing all 43 people on board. Minutes later,Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, aTupolev Tu-154 (NATO reporting name "Careless") which also had departed Domodedovo International, explodes over Russia'sRostov Oblast and crashes, killing all 46 people on board. TheRussian government declares the explosions to have been caused by femaleChechensuicide bombers.

• KLM Cargo joins theSkyteam Cargoairline alliance.
• 7 September –Indonesian human-rights and anti-corruption activistMunir Said Thalib dies ofarsenic poisoning on aGaruda Indonesia flight fromJakarta, Indonesia, toAmsterdam in theNetherlands. The victim of an assassination, he apparently had been poisoned during a stopover inSingapore.
• 11 September –Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria and all 16 other people on board are killed in the crash of aBoeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter into theAegean Sea offMount Athos,Greece, 5.5nautical miles (6.3 miles (10.1 km) off theChalkidiki Peninsula.^[2]
• 13 September –Continental Airlines,Northwest Airlines, andKLM join theSkyteamairline alliance. It is the largest expansion of an airline alliance in history and makes Skyteam the second-largest alliance, moving it ahead ofOneworld. With the expansion, Skyteam serves more than 341 million customers, with 14,320 daily flights to 658 destinations in 130 countries.

• Air Baltic is rebranded asairBaltic.
• 1 October – American multi-sport athlete and formerAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League playerGertrude Dunn is killed when thePiper PA-28-180 Archer she is piloting crashes due to engine failure on takeoff fromNew Garden Airport inAvondale,Pennsylvania.^[2]
• 3 October –Iraqi Airways makes an international flight for the first time since theGulf War broke out inJanuary 1991, flying fromBaghdad,Iraq, toAmman,Jordan.
• 4 October –SpaceShipOne successfully makes its third flight into space. It wins theAnsari X-Prize for proving to be a plausible option for space tourism.
• 14 October
  • MK Airlines Flight 1602, aBoeing 747-200F cargo aircraft, strikes the ground and crashes immediately after takeoff fromHalifax Stanfield International Airport inEnfield,Nova Scotia,Canada, killing its entire crew of seven.
  • During a ferry flight with no one else aboard, the pilot and copilot ofPinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, aBombardier CRJ-200, decide to test the performance limits of the aircraft by pushing it to its maximum approved altitude of 41,000 feet (12,000 meters). They conduct various non-standard maneuvers and reach the altitude, but overstress the engines, flame out, andstall. They recover from the stall at 38,000 feet (12,000 meters) and enter a glide. Never able to restart the engines and unable to glide far enough to reach any of six airfields they are advised to divert to, they eventually crash nearJefferson City,Missouri. Both pilots die in the crash.
• 19 October –Corporate Airlines Flight 5966, aBritish Aerospace Jetstream 32, crashes on approach toKirksville Regional Airport inAdair County, Missouri, nearKirksville, killing 13 of the 15 people on board and injuring both survivors.
• 24 October – Flying in heavy fog, aBeechcraft Super King Air 200 owned byHendrick Motorsportscrashes into Bull Mountain, seven miles (11 kilometers) fromBlue Ridge Airport inMartinsville,Virginia, killing all 10 people on board. FormerNASCARBusch Series driver and ownerRicky Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports Director of Engine Operations and lead engine builderRandy Dorton are among the dead.
• 28 October –Boeing ceases production of theBoeing 757 airliner after manufacturing 1,050 of the aircraft for 54 customers.
• 29 October – theGovernment of Benin establishes theAgence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Bénin ("Benin National Civil Aviation Agency") asBenin's nationalcivil aviation authority. It replaces the Direction de l’Aviation Civil ("Directorate of Civil Aviation").

• 1 November – The second revival ofPan American Airways – nicknamed "Pan Am III" by some people – which had begun service inOctober 1999, ceases operations and turns its operations over toBoston-Maine Airways.
• 2 November –Independence Air's status as aDelta Connection carrier comes to an end.
• 3 November –Blue1 joins theStar Alliance as its first regional member.
• 16 November – TheNational Aeronautics and Space Administration'sX-43 reaches a record speed ofMach 9.8 (7,546 mph (12,144 km/h).
• 18 November –Adria Airways andCroatia Airlines join the Star Alliance.
• 21 November –China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210, aBombardier CRJ-200LR, crashes into a park just after takeoff fromBaotou Erliban Airport inBaotou,China, killing all 53 people on the aircraft and two people on the ground. An investigation finds thaticing caused the crash.
• 30 November –Lion Air Flight 583, aMcDonnell Douglas MD-82 with 156 people on board, overruns the runway on landing in a hard rain atAdi Sumarmo Airport inSurakarta,Indonesia, and crashes, killing 25 people and injuring all 138 survivors.

• TheIndonesian airlineAwair, which had suspended its operations inMarch 2002, resumes flights, now as an associate ofAirAsia.
• 9 December
  • United Airlines becomes the first American airline to land inHo Chi Minh City,Vietnam, sinceOperation Frequent Wind during thefall of Saigon in April 1975.
  • TheUnited States Army issues a request for proposals for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH). Ultimately, this will lead to the development of theBell ARH-70 Arapaho.
• 10 December
  • TwoCT-114 Tutors from Canada'sSnowbirdsaerobatic team collide while training nearMossbank, Saskatchewan. Captain Miles Selby is killed and Captain Chuck Mallet is injured.
  • The United StatesFederal Aviation Administration issues an EmergencyAirworthiness Directive effectively grounding the entire U.S. fleet ofBeechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft. The directive is in response to fatal in-flightstructural failure accidents during simulated aerial combat flights.

• Aero-Cam Slick 360

• 19 February –Evergreen 747 Supertanker

• 5 March –Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer^[9]
• 12 March –Embraer 190^[10]

• 29 May –Aceair AERIKS 200
• 29 May –NAL Saras^[11]

• 18 June –Airblue flies its first flight, a private airline inPakistan
• 21 June – First sub-orbital flight ofSpaceShipOne

• 8 July –HESA Saeqeh^[12]
• 15 July –Aermacchi M-346^[13]
• 20 July –Aerocomp Comp Air Jet^[14]

• 26 August –BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4^[15]

• 16 October –Quest Kodiak^[16]

• 17 December –Antonov An-148^[17]
• 18 December –Bell 210^[18]
• 31 December –Eclipse 500^[19]

• AgustaWestland Apache with theBritish Army

The deadliest crash of this year wasFlash Airlines Flight 604, aBoeing 737 which crashed into theRed Sea nearSharm El Sheikh,Egypt on 3 January, killing all 148 people on board.