[2][3][4] In May 2018, the website had around 3.5 million visitors per month,[3] and as of January 2020[update] over 25,000 individual news items had been published.
[6][7][8][9][10] The site was launched on 12 May 2008 as a one-man project by Austrian technical software developer Simon Hradecky.
[2][3][4] Hradecky's search for safety-related incidents in aviation began in 1995, so despite its launch in 2008, reports on events up to 19 June 1999 can be found on the website.
[6][7][8][9][10] On 3 December 2012, The Aviation Herald reported on a risky landing made by a Ryanair plane at Allgäu Airport Memmingen, Germany, in September.
[17][18] A day later, Ryanair made a legal threat of defamation against the website in response to critical reader comments below the article.