As a frequent traveler, you sometimes get asked, is flying on Chechen International Airways advisable? Not really.
Aeroflot, now much modernized and with reportedly good service levels, has historically been the poster child for a hearty “kick the tires, light the fires and away we go into the snowstorm” mentality. Their accident record (8,231 fatalities) bears this out, although such robust thinking does turn back Fascist hordes, so there’s that. Aeroflot has also been in continuous operation since 1923. Air safety in Russia has been under the spotlight of late:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/are-russia-airlines-safe/
After Aeroflot, Air France, surprisingly, has the second highest number of passenger fatalities, although they have been operating since 1933 and also have had plenty of time to get there. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, best known as the author of the best-selling and soporific children’s book The Little Prince flew transatlantic and Africa airmail services from France in the 1930s, and from what he says it was quite unsafe.
Across the channel, British flagwavery points out that British Airways has a zero fatality record, although ignores that they were relatively recently incorporated, in 1974. This airbrushes some hair-raising and fatal aviation events – such as the decompressing de Havilland Comet airliners in the 1950s – at the hands of the preceding British Overseas Airways Corporation, which I flew as a child and whose initials reportedly stood for “Better on a Camel”.
Long story short, take the train in Russia, or just don’t go there, and otherwise you should be fine.