2017 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2017.

Civil aviation

In 2017, airlines launched more than 3,500 routes led by Ryanair with 278 followed by Eurowings with 125 and Wizz Air with 104, mostly in US with 971, 464 in Germany and 425 in Spain, the airports with most new routes were Munich with 55, Frankfurt with 51, Birmingham and London Stansted with 47.

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was a military accident, namely the 2017 Myanmar Air Force Shaanxi Y-8 crash which crashed into the Andaman Sea near Myanmar on 7 June 2017 killing all 122 people on board. The deadliest civil aviation crash of this year was Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a Boeing 747 cargo freighter that crashed during landing in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 16 January, killing all four people on board, as well as 35 on the ground.

Events

January

;12 January
*Iran receives the first of 100 Airbus airliners it purchased after signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for its nuclear program in 2015. The first aircraft is an Airbus A321 that arrives at Tehran, completing its delivery flight from Toulouse, France. The arrival of the A321 is the first step in Iran's plan to recapitalize its aging civil aviation fleet, which has received few new aircraft since the Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979. Plans also call for Iran to begin taking delivery in 2018 of 80 Boeing airliners it ordered.

;16 January
* After a missed approach in thick fog while attempting to land at Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a Boeing 747-412F cargo aircraft (registration TC-MCL) belonging to and crewed by MyCargo Airlines, crashes in the village of Dachi Suu while attempting a go-around, killing all four people on the plane and at least 37 on the ground, and injuring at least 15 people. The plane, breaking into pieces, plows through several hundred meters of the town, destroying at least 32 houses and damaging dozens of buildings.

;17 January
* Australia, the People's Republic of China, and Malaysia announce that they have suspended indefinitely the underwater search they have led for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 that disappeared on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board. The most complex and expensive search effort in aviation history, searchers using sonar towfish and unmanned submarines have covered 120,000 km (46,000 square miles) of the Indian Ocean about west of Australia over more than 34 months at a cost of between US$150 million and US$160 million without finding any trace of the airliner or its passengers or crew. Rejecting a December 2016 Australian Transport Safety Bureau suggestion that the search zone move farther north, the three countries announce that they do not plan to resume the search unless convincing new evidence surfaces that identifies the likely location of the aircraft.

;18 January
* Two United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers – named the ''Spirit of Pennsylvania'' and the ''Spirit of Georgia'' – conduct an evening strike against two Islamic State camps about southwest of Sirte, Libya, where Islamic State personnel are actively plotting attacks in Europe. The B-2s drop 108 bombs and, making a nonstop flight to Libya and back from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, spend 34 hours continuously in the air; it is the first use of B-2s in combat since Operation Odyssey Dawn in March 2011. After the B-2 strike is completed, U.S. MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles follow up with Hellfire air-to-ground missile strikes against surviving targets. Between them, the B-2s and MQ-9s kill an estimated 85 Islamic State personnel. The United States has conducted 495 airstrikes in and around Sirte since August 2016, most of them by unmanned aerial vehicles.

;27 January
* The United States Department of Defense announces that United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis has ordered a review of the F-35 Lightning II program and the replacement for the Boeing VC-25 aircraft that operate as Air Force One. U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the costs of the two programs has prompted the review.

;28 January
* Airline passengers around the world face confusion as airlines issue contradictory and vague rules about who can and cannot travel to the United States in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order " Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," signed on 27 January, which places a 90-day ban on entry to the United States of citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, an indefinite ban on entry by Syrian refugees, and a 120-day ban on entry by refugees from any other country.
* As part of a review of the U.S. strategy for defeating the Islamic State, the administration of President Donald Trump issues a memorandum to U.S. military commanders directing them to look into loosening restrictions on U.S. airstrikes imposed by President Barack Obama to lessen the likelihood and frequency of civilian casualties in U.S. airstrikes.

;30 January
* U.S. President Donald Trump says that he has been able to get Lockheed Martin to agree to reduce the total price of the next batch of 90 F-35A Lightning II aircraft it will manufacture by US$600 million. A U.S. Department of Defense spokesman says that the reduction will amount to a per-plane price reduction of 6 to 7 percent, translating to a reduction of between US$6.1 million and US$7.1 million per plane and of between US$549 million and US$630 million for the 90 planes combined.

February

;3 February
* The United States Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin announce a deal that reduces the contract cost for the next batch of F-35A Lightning II aircraft by US$728,000,000, bringing the contract to a total value of about US$8,900,000,000 and pushing the per-unit cost of the F-35 to under US$95,000,000 for the first time, a drop of 7.3 percent. Of the 90 aircraft, 55 are for the United States Air Force and 35 are for Australia, Israel, the United Kingdom, and other countries.

;17 February
* With U.S. President Donald Trump in attendance, Boeing rolls out the newest version of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner airliner, the Boeing 787-10, in a ceremony at Charleston International Airport in South Carolina.

March

;1 March
* In Geneva, Switzerland, a United Nations special investigative commission issues a finding that the Syrian government committed a war crime by deliberately bombing a humanitarian ground convoy unloading aid packages at a warehouse operated by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent west of Aleppo, Syria, during a ceasefire on 19 September 2016, killing 10 aid workers. The commission finds that the Syrian Arab Air Force strike was "meticulously planned and ruthlessly carried out." Both Russia and the Syrian government have denied that their aircraft conducted the attack.

;2 March
* Manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft conduct 25 strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) targets in Yemen's Abyan, Bayda, and Shabwah governorates. One strike, against a car in the Mowjan area of Bayda Governorate, reportedly kills five AQAP members including some senior leaders, and local media claim that the strikes combine to kill "hundreds" of AQAP personnel.

;2-3 March (overnight)
* U.S. manned and unmanned aircraft conduct at least five strikes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) targets in Yemen. Among the targets is a house in the al-Saeed area of Shabwa Governorate believed to belong to senior AQAP area commander Saad Atef; his home is among several houses damaged by air-to-ground missiles, reportedly killing 12 AQAP personnel, although Atef's fate is unknown.

;4 March
* Families of the passengers of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 – a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board missing since 8 March 2014 – announce that they have begun a campaign to raise funds to pay for a private search for the plane, hoping to raise US$15 million for a search in a area in the Indian Ocean to the north of previous search areas. Speaking at the remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at which the families announce the new effort, Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai claims that there is an 85 percent chance that the missing plane will be found in the new search area. The governments of Australia, the People's Republic of China, and Malaysia had called off their two-year, US$160 million search for the airliner on 17 January.
* A Syrian Arab Air Force MiG-23 (NATO reporting name "Flogger") crashes at the base of the Nur Mountains near Samandağ in Turkey's Hatay Province. Its pilot ejects, and Turkish authorities find him, injured and exhausted, after a nine-hour search. The Syrian government claims it crashed after experiencing technical difficulties during a mission over Syria near the Turkish border, while the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham claims to have shot it down with a 23-millimeter antiaircraft gun while it was bombing targets in Syria's Idlib Governorate.

;9 March
* United States Central Command's commander, United States Army General Joseph Votel, tells the United States Congress that an investigation has concluded that between four and 12 civilians died due to U.S. actions in a U.S. and United Arab Emirates ground and air raid in Yemen targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula personnel on 29 January.
* In its quadrennial assessment of U.S. infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives airports in the United States a grade of "D" on the American "A" through "F" scale, explaining that congestion at U.S. airports is growing and that it expects 24 of the largest airports to reach "Thanksgiving-peak traffic volume" at least one day a week by 2025. The grade is slightly below the D-plus the association gives U.S. infrastructure as a whole.

;10 March
* A Swan Aviation Sikorsky S-76++ helicopter (registration TC-HEZ) making a domestic flight in Turkey from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to Bozüyük in heavy fog strikes the Endem TV Tower in Beylikdüzü, Istanbul, and crashes onto State Road D100, killing all seven people on board.

;13 March
* Angry with the Government of the Netherlands over its refusal to allow Turkish diplomats to engage in political campaigning in the Netherlands among Turkish citizens there in support of a referendum in Turkey scheduled for 16 April 2017 that would increase the powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as the treatment Turkish diplomats received from Dutch authorities while attempting to engage in such campaigning, the Government of Turkey announces a number of sanctions against the Netherlands, including the closing of Turkish airspace to Dutch diplomats. Among other things, the closing of the airspace prevents the Dutch ambassador to Turkey from returning to Turkey after a trip to the Netherlands.

;14 March
* According to local residents, airstrikes against houses in Mosul, Iraq, targeting Islamic State snipers and other forces kill 27 civilians in one house and 19 in another.
* A Sikorsky S-92A helicopter (registration EI-ICR, call sign "Rescue 116") operated by CHC Helicopter under contract to the Irish Coast Guard crashes into the Atlantic Ocean during a rescue mission off County Mayo, Ireland, killing two crew members and leaving its other two crew members missing.

;16 March
* Two U.S. MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles conduct an attack in Jinah, Syria, firing at least four AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and dropping at least one 500-pound (227-kilogram) bomb. The United States Department of Defense claims that the strike destroyed a partially completed community hall adjacent to a mosque and killed dozens of al-Qaeda personnel attending a meeting, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activists claim that it destroyed the mosque itself and killed at least 46 people, most of them civilians.

;17 March
*According to local residents, an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition against two Islamic State snipers in a building in Mosul, Iraq, kills a reported 137 people sheltering in one building. The coalition will later respond that it is investigating conflicting allegations of an airstrike in the area between 17 and 23 March that inflicted civilian casualties. The Iraqi armed forces neither confirm nor deny conducting a strike in the area, but say that the Islamic State is forcing civilians to remain in buildings while they fight coalition forces from the rooftops, hoping to turn world opinion against the coalition when airstrikes and other military operations targeting the Islamic State forces kill the civilians. A United States Department of Defense study of the incident released on 25 May 2017 will conclude that a 500-pound (227-kg) GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that struck the building detonated explosives stored there by the Islamic State, causing the building to collapse and killing the two snipers and 105 civilians, and that an additional 36 alleged civilian deaths in the explosion and collapse could not be confirmed; local residents will respond by disputing that explosives were stored in the building.
* Syria fires surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at Israeli Air Force jets returning to Israel from an overnight strike against what Israel's Channel 10 says was a ground convoy in central Syria carrying weapons destined for Hezbollah. The Government of Syria claims that the Israelis targeted several sites in central Syria near Palmyra and that Syrian antiaircraft batteries shot down one Israeli plane, damaged another, and forced the rest to flee, but Israel says that the Syrian claims are false and that all its aircraft returned safely. Israel uses its Arrow missile in combat for the first time, shooting down one of the Syrian SAMs.
* An attack helicopter fires on a boat with 140 people on board carrying Yemeni refugees from Yemen to Sudan at the mouth of the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, reportedly killing at least 40 people and injuring about 80 others. Houthi rebels in Yemen claim that an AH-64 Apache helicopter operated by the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebel forces in Yemen conducted the attack. The coalition has claimed that the Houthis smuggle weapons into Yemen via the Red Sea.
* Two Cessna 152s (registration C-FGOI and C-GPNP), each carrying a pilot from China flying solo, collide over Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, Canada, and crash on the grounds of the Promenades Saint-Bruno shopping mall. C-FGOI crashes into the mall's parking lot, killing its pilot, while C-GPNP crashes onto the mall's roof, seriously injuring its pilot.

;18 March
* A 39-year-old man assaults a police officer during a traffic stop for speeding in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, hijacks a woman's car at gunpoint, and drives to Paris Orly Airport, where he confronts a team of three soldiers of France's Sentinel anti-terrorism force. After he tackles a female member of the Sentinel team, seizes her assault rifle, and points it at the other two soldiers, the other two soldiers shoot and kill him. About 3,000 passengers are evacuated from Orly's south terminal, while those in the airport's west terminal are confined temporarily. All air traffic into Orly also is suspended temporarily.

;19 March
* A U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle carries out an air-to-ground missile strike in Afghanistan's Paktika Province that kills al-Qaeda leader Qari Yasin and three of his companions. The U.S. Department of Defense will announce the strike and its results on 25 March.

;20 March
* A South Supreme Airlines Antonov An-26 crashes on landing at Wau Airport in South Sudan and is destroyed by fire. All 45 people on board survive, although 18 are injured.

;21 March
* The U.S.-led coalition conducts 19 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria's Raqqa Governorate near Ar-Raqqa. Local residents, activists, and Syrian state television report that one of the strikes hit a school in Mansoura where hundreds of civilians had taken shelter, killing at least 30 civilians. The coalition responds that it has no reports of civilian casualties resulting from its strikes.
* A spokesman for Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently says that airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition targeting the Islamic State have killed 101 civilians since 1 March, a record death toll for a single month.
* Unidentified aircraft, either of the Syrian Arab Air Force or Russian Federation Air Force, strike Idlib, Syria, in response to an unexpected rebel offensive in the area. The offensive begins following days of strikes by Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft, supported by Russian planes, against rebel-held areas in Syria's Idlib Governorate that have killed dozens of civilians.
* In response to intelligence that the Islamic State is developing bombs that can be hidden in portable electronic devices, the United States Government bans passengers aboard direct Egyptair, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, Saudia, and Turkish Airlines flights arriving in the United States from Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan; Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt; Istanbul Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey; King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City, Kuwait; Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, Morocco; Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar; Abu Dhabi International Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from carrying portable electronic devices larger than long by wide by deep – including laptop computers, iPads, tablet computers, cameras, travel printers, and electronic games larger than cellphones – in the cabin. Such devices are permitted aboard the arriving airliners only as checked baggage or if brought aboard by crew members. Cell phones are allowed in the cabin. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted online a Q&A addressing the basic questions regarding Aviation Security Enhancements for Flights to the United States. A few hours later, the British government institutes the same ban on devices, but applies it to direct AtlasGlobal, British Airways, EasyJet, Egyptair, Jet2.com, Middle East Airlines, Monarch Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways, Saudia, Tunis Air, and Turkish Airlines flights arriving in the United Kingdom from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey.

;22 March
* China warns a Guam-based United States Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber taking part in training exercises with South Korean forces over the East China Sea that it is operating without permission in the Chinese East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. The bomber's crew informs the Chinese that its aircraft is operating in international airspace and continues its mission without deviating from its flight path.
* United States Marine Corps aircraft including helicopters airlift Syrian Democratic Forces troops, including Arab and Kurdish forces, to an area behind Islamic State lines in northern Syria to spearhead an offensive to capture Al-Thawrah, Syria, the Tabqa Dam, and a nearby airfield from the Islamic State, the first time the United States has provided airlift support to rebels in Syria. U.S. Marine Corps AH-64 Apache attack helicopters are among other U.S. military forces also taking part in the offensive.
* The United Kingdom-based group Airwars alleges that airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria have killed 1,000 civilians since 1 March.

;24 March
* A night airstrike probably conducted by Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft hits a rebel-operated women's prison in Idlib, Syria, killing at least 16 people, including prison staff and prisoners. Some of the imprisoned women reportedly survive the air raid and try to take advantage of the strike to escape from the prison but are shot to death by prison guards.

;25 March
* During an ongoing rebel offensive, Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft conduct airstrikes against rebel forces and rebel-held areas in the suburbs of Damascus, Idlib Governorate, and Hama Governorate. Some activists claim that Russian aircraft also take part in the strikes. One strike hits a main street in Hamouriyah, killing at least 16 people – one report puts the death toll at at least 18 – and wounding more than 50. In Idlib Governorate, strikes hit the provincial capital, Idlib, and several other towns and villages, reportedly killing and wounding dozens of people; one of the strikes hits a clinic in Kafr Nabl.

;26 March
* U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces recapture al-Tabqa Air Base, west of ar-Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State. The Islamic State had held the strategically important air base since capturing it in August 2014.
* Attack helicopters and artillery support Kenyan ground troops in a raid in Somalia's Badhadhe District that the Government of Kenya claims results in the death of 31 al-Shabaab personnel. Al-Shabaab denies that Kenya conducted the raid.

;27 March
* A spokesman for United States Central Command announces that the U.S. military is not considering changes to its airstrike policies in combating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria despite reported increases in civilian deaths due to U.S. strikes. United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis says that no country does more than the United States to avoid civilian casualties, adding, "We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people. The same cannot be said for our adversaries, and that is up to you .e., the pressto sort out."

;28 March
* The United Kingdom-based group AirWars announces that of 1,257 claimed civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria in airstrikes by the U.S. coalition since 1 March, it considers a record 337 of them to be "fair," which it defines as corroborated by at least two generally reliable sources and alleged to have taken place in areas where coalition airstrikes are known to have occurred at the time of the reported civilian deaths.
* Peruvian Airlines Flight 112, a Boeing 737-3M8 (registration OB-2036-P), suffers the collapse of all three of its landing gear legs upon landing at Francisco Carle Airport in Jauja, Peru, slides off the runway, striking the airport's perimeter fence, and is destroyed by fire. All 150 people on board survive, but 39 suffer injuries.

;29 March
* The largest variant of the Embraer E-Jet E2 family, the E195-E2, makes its first flight. The flight, previously scheduled for the second half of 2017, takes place ahead of schedule.
* The United States Department of State informs the United States Congress that it supports the sale of 19 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft and related equipment to Bahrain, a deal worth US$5,000,000,000. The announcement reverses an autumn 2016 position that the State Department took which required that Bahrain improve its human right record as a condition of the sale.

;30 March
* The first successful launch and landing of a used orbital rocket takes place as the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 space launch vehicle returns to a soft landing aboard a platform in the Atlantic Ocean after launching a communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX previously had used the rocket in an April 2016 launch.

;31 March
* The A319neo, the smallest variant of the Airbus A320neo family, makes its first flight, powered by CFM International LEAP engines.
* The Antonov/Taqnia An-132, an improved version of the Antonov An-32 twin-turboprop military transport aircraft, makes its maiden flight.
* The Boeing 787-10, the largest variant of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, makes its first flight.

April

;3 April
* During a counteroffensive by Syrian government forces to retake areas lost to rebels in March, Syrian aircraft conduct airstrikes against rebel-held areas around Damascus and in Hama, Syria. A strike in Douma reportedly kills at least 16 people.

;4 April
* During heavy air raids against Tahrir al-Sham-held Khan Shaykhun, Syria, an attack with chemical weapons takes place, killing at least 86 people, the deadliest use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War since 2013. U.S. President Donald Trump blames the Syrian Arab Air Force for the chemical attack, but the Syrian government denies involvement in the airstrikes and that it conducted a chemical attack. The following day, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense blames Syrian rebels, claiming that Syrian Arab Air Force strikes hit a rebel chemical weapons workshop, causing the release of poison gas, but offers no evidence to support the claim.
* Boeing announces a tentative agreement to sell 30 Boeing 737 MAX airliners to Iran's Iran Aseman Airlines for a total of US$3,000,000,000, with the airline also holding rights to purchase an additional 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for an additional US$3,000,000,000. Deliveries are to begin in 2022.

;5 April
* Zunum Aero announces that it is working with Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures to develop electric aircraft that could compete with private automobiles, trains, and buses on trips of up to in terms both of operating costs for airlines and the cost and time of travel for passengers. The company envisions electric aircraft capable of seating 10 to 50 passengers that would operate at lower speeds and altitudes than current commercial aircraft but allow airlines to operate profitably from local airports that had lost airline service as airlines consolidated passengers onto larger aircraft to save on operating costs. The company also envisions the new generation of aircraft drawing people away from cars, buses, and trains by allowing airlines to offer lower fares and by operating from general aviation airports with passengers loading their baggage into the planes directly from their cars without going through time-consuming security lines or having to change planes at airline hubs. Zunum Aero hopes its aircraft can begin service by the early 2020s, although some independent observers doubt that such service could begin before 2030 and perhaps not before 2050.

;6 April
* During the evening, the United States Navy guided-missile destroyers and fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian Arab Air Force's Shayrat Air Base, which the United States has identified as the source of the 4 April poison gas attack on Khan Shaykhun, Syria. Reports of the number of Syrian aircraft destroyed in the strike range from "approximately 20 planes" according to initial U.S. assessments to nine aircraft according to Russian state television. The Syrian state media report that nine civilians die in the strike, but the United States replies that the strike did not target civilians, instead hitting "aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars." According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strike kills four Syrian military personnel, including a general, and damages over a dozen hangars, a fuel depot, and an air defense base, while Al-Masdar News reports that the strike kills six Syrian military personnel, damages or destroys 15 Syrian jet aircraft, and causes explosions and large fires when by destroying several fuel tankers. It is the first time that U.S. forces have attacked Syrian forces deliberately since the Syrian Civil War began in March 2011.

;7 April
* Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft resume operations from Shayrat Air Base.
* In response to the U.S. cruise missile strike against Shayrat Air Base the previous day, Russia suspends its agreement to cooperate with the United States in avoiding hostile encounters with one another over Syria. It also claims that only 23 of the 59 missiles fired had hit their targets, and that they had destroyed only six Syrian aircraft – all MiG-23s (NATO reporting name "Flogger") undergoing repairs – a radar station, and a few buildings.
* The U.S.-led coalition has conducted at least 20 strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria over the previous 24 hours.

;8 April
* Syrian Arab Air Force and Russian Federation Air Force aircraft strike targets in rebel-held areas in Syria's Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa, and Idlib governorates, killing civilians in all four governorates. During the day, Syrian aircraft again strike Khan Shaykhun, the site of the 6 April chemical attack, using only conventional weapons, killing one woman and wounding several other people there.

;9 April
* After no one volunteers to give up his or her seat to make room aboard overbooked United Express Flight 3411 – an Embraer 170 with 70 passengers aboard operated by Republic Airline boarding at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, for a flight to Louisville, Kentucky – to make room for four United Airlines employees requiring transportation to Louisville, United employees select four passengers to be involuntarily bumped from the flight. Three comply, but the fourth, David Dao, refuses. After United employees deem Dao "disruptive" and "belligerent," Chicago Department of Aviation security officers board the plane, slam a screaming Dao's head against an armrest, and drag him from his seat, apparently unconscious. After the United employees take the vacated seats, Dao reboards the airliner with a bloody face, collapses, and is removed on a stretcher. The incident is captured on video and causes outrage. Although United chief executive officer Oscar Munoz initially defends his employees' actions, he apologizes two days later and promises such an incident will not occur again.

;10 April
* The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) drops its 2013 proposal to allow passengers to use cellphones during the cruise portion of airline fights. Although then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had argued in 2013 that advances in flight communications had minimized the danger of cellphone signals interfering with pilot radios, making prohibitions on cellphone use at cruising altitude unnecessary, although cellphone use during takeoff, climb, descent, and landing would remain prohibited. Wheeler's proposal has never been instituted, and current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai withdraws it, arguing that noisy telephone calls aboard airliners would annoy passengers and cabin crews.
* Researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University release an annual report on the quality of the performance of airlines in the United States which finds – based on statistics compiled by the United States Department of Transportation regarding airline on-time performance, baggage-handling, involuntary bumping of passengers from oversold flights, and passenger complaints filed with the United States Government – that U.S. airlines improved their on-time performance (defined by the U.S. Government as arriving no more than 14 minutes late) in 2016 compared to 2015 and lost fewer pieces of luggage, and that customers filed fewer complaints in 2016 than in 2015, despite popular opinion that the quality of airline service is declining. On-time performance rose from 79.9 percent in 2015 to 81.4 percent in 2016 (with only American Airlines, JetBlue, and Virgin America seeing drops in performance among 12 leading U.S. airlines); lost, stolen, or delayed luggage dropped 17 percent; the bumping of passengers dropped 18 percent; and complaints to the U.S. Government dropped by about one-fifth (with only Hawaiian Airlines and Virgin America seeing increases in complaints). Overall, the researchers rank Alaska Airlines as the highest performer and Delta Air Lines second, and Frontier Airlines as the lowest performer, with Spirit Airlines second-lowest. The statistics do not include delayed flights that arrive within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival time, passengers who voluntarily give up their seats on overbooked flights in exchange for compensation, or complaints filed directly with airlines.

;11 April
* An air-to-ground missile strike by a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle near Al-Thawrah, Syria, kills 18 members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces after they are mistaken for Islamic State personnel.

; 13 April
* The United States uses a 22,000-pound (9,979-kg) GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) in combat for the first time, dropping it from the rear cargo door of a United States Air Force Lockheed MC-130 on a cave complex of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant–Khorasan Province near the village of Moman in Achin District in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province. The strike reportedly kills up to 36 ISIL-Khorasan Province members. The MOAB becomes the largest non-nuclear aerial bomb ever used in combat.
* A Lesotho Defence Force Eurocopter EC135 T2+ carrying three soldiers and a Lesotho Ministry of Finance official delivering pensions to outlying districts strikes power lines and crashes in mountainous terrain near Thaba Putsoa, Lesotho. Two of those on board are killed; the other two are critically injured and die later in a hospital.
* The largest variant yet of the Boeing 737 MAX, the Boeing 737 MAX 9, makes its first flight, taking off from Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Washington, and landing at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, after a flight of 2 hours 42 minutes. It is due to enter service in 2018.

;18 April
* A Saudi Arabian military Black Hawk helicopter crashes in Yemen's Ma'rib Governorate, killing 12 Saudi military personnel. Some reports blame the crash on "friendly fire."
* Flying in adverse weather, a Turkish police helicopter carrying seven police officers, a judge, a soldier, and three crew members crashes in mountainous terrain ten minutes after takeoff from Pulumur in eastern Turkey, killing all 12 people on board.

;20 April
* Leased by GECAS, the first A321neo is delivered in Hamburg, Germany, to Virgin America, configured with 184 seats and LEAP engines. Virgin America expects to place it in service on 31 May.
* AeroMobil s.r.o. unveils the production model of its AeroMobil flying car at Top Marques Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and announces that it plans to begin to take preorders for the vehicle before the end of 2017.

;22 April
* According to a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report, airstrikes – presumably conducted by the Syrian Arab Air Force or Russian Federation Air Force – hit an underground medical center in Abdin, Syria. The Observatory later also reports that land-based missiles hit the facility. The attacks kill at least three medical staff members.

;25 April
* The Turkish Air Force strikes Syrian Kurdish and Iraqi Kurdish targets, hitting what the Government of Turkey claims are "terrorist hotbeds" and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) supply routes used to smuggle ammunition, explosives, and weapons into Turkey. In Syria, the strikes kill 20 members of the U.S.-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). In Iraq, Turkish aircraft strike the Mount Sinjar area for the first time, hitting targets associated with the PKK's Yazidi affiliate and killing five Kurdish ''peshmerga'' troops. The United States Department of State and the Government of Iraq condemn the strikes, which Turkey did not coordinate with the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
* Uber announced plans to launch a flying taxi service called Elevate using extremely quiet, pilotless, autonomous, electric-powered VTOL vehicles capable of carrying four passengers, with takeoffs and landings to take place at "vertiports" located in large cities, perhaps on the tops of buildings. Uber hopes that Elevate will begin operations by 2023 and perhaps as soon as 2020, followed by a full-scale rollout by 2027. Dallas, Texas, has already committed to hosting the initial Elevate operations, and Uber hopes that Dubai also will participate when Elevate is introduced. Uber has approached Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell Helicopter, Embraer, the Mooney International Corporation, and Pipistrel for designs for the proposed VTOL vehicle.

;26 April
* China launches its first domestically built aircraft carrier, a Type 001A aircraft carrier reportedly to be named ''Shandong''. Plans call for the carrier to enter service sometime around 2020 as the second aircraft carrier in China's history.

;27 April
* Israeli Air Force jets flying over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights fire several air-to-ground missiles at a Syrian military site used by Iranian militia forces just southwest of Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria. The strike, which apparently targets a shipment of arms that had arrived aboard at least three Iranian cargo aircraft earlier in the day, damages a warehouse and fuel depot results in a large explosion and fire.Issa, Philip, and Zeina Karam, "Israeli strikes inside Syria pick up tempo in proxy war," Associated Press, 27 April 2017.
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* An Israeli Patriot surface-to-air missile hits what Israel initially reports is a "projectile" inbound from Syria over the Golan Heights. An Israeli spokesman later identifies the "projectile" as an unmanned aerial vehicle, either Syrian or Russian.
* Syrian or Russian air raids against rebel-held areas of Syria's Idlib Governorate kill at least 19 people. The strikes, which appear to target ambulances and medical facilities, kill four medical staff at a university hospital in Deir Sharqi and four paramedics or ambulance operators in Maarzita.
* Honolulu International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, is renamed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport