IATA Annual Safety Report Executive Summary

Aviation remains one of the safest forms of transport globally. In 2025, airlines carried just under five billion passengers on more than 38 million flights while continuing a two-decade decline in accident rates. The industry’s commitment to continuous safety improvements has driven a long-term reduction in accident rates, from 3.72 accidents per million sectors in 2005 to 1.32 in 2025.

Although 2025 recorded 394 onboard fatalities, ongoing safety improvements across the industry helped prevent more severe outcomes. A particularly notable achievement was the absence of any Loss of Control Inflight (LOC‑I) accidents, a significant milestone given LOC‑I’s historical role as a leading cause of fatalities. Despite periodic fluctuations in fatality numbers, fatal accidents involving large commercial passenger aircraft remain exceedingly rare.

Aviation’s risk landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by technological, geopolitical, environmental, and human factors. The industry must respond through unified global standards, enhanced data capabilities, strengthened crisis management, and deeper international collaboration. The aviation risk profile is dynamic and continually evolving, demanding constant vigilance.

Safety outcomes cannot always be attributed solely to pilots or operators. The accident involving PSA Airlines, which collided mid-air with a helicopter, in Washington, DC, illustrates how airspace design, traffic procedures, and safety oversight can influence system-wide. In this case, multiple deep‑rooted failures aligned to create the conditions that led to the accident.

Apart from the Ahmedabad accident, most accidents in 2025 were largely linked to adverse weather and operational threats, including manual handling and decision‑making errors, procedural non-compliance, systemic and regulatory failures, bird strikes, and maintenance issues. As investigations remain on-going, the full set of contributing factors has yet to be confirmed.

Airport‑environment hazards also played a notable role in accident severity. The presence of solid obstacles such as buildings, concrete walls, and perimeter fencing near runways increased the likelihood that otherwise survivable events would become fatal.

The freighter accident in Louisville, Kentucky, involved a takeoff crash traced by the NTSB to fatigue‑ and overstress‑related cracking in the engine‑pylon attachment lugs. The event also underscores how airport infrastructure constraints, such as layout limitations and limited buffer zones, can elevate risk and reduce recovery margins when mechanical failures occur. A similar dynamic was evident in the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport, where a runway overrun resulted in aircraft striking a rigid concrete structure supporting the airport’s instrument landing system.

Additional runway excursion accidents in 2025, further highlighted the risks posed by non-compliant or hardened perimeter structures. An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft veered off the runway during heavy rain in Mekele, Ethiopia; its left main landing gear collapsed after impacting with two concrete manholes located within the runway strip, causing the left main gear to collapse and the tire to burst. Likewise, an Air Ocean Maroc overshot the runway at Fès–Saïss Airport and struck a perimeter wall. These accidents reinforce the importance of runway safety areas, frangible installations, and compliance with international requirements and standards.

IATA urges airports and regulators to remove or mitigate hazardous structures and to maintain clear runway safety areas and runway end safety areas. Where immediate removal is not feasible, interim risk‑reduction measures should be implemented.

Operations in conflict zones remain amongst the most serious threats to civil aviation. The tragic downing of Azerbaijan Airlines, which claimed 39 lives in 2024, should never have occurred. No civil aircraft should ever become a target—whether intentionally or unintentionally—of military activity. Governments bear a critical responsibility to strengthen intelligence‑sharing and coordination mechanisms to prevent such tragedies. Persistent threats such as GPS jamming and spoofing, alongside emerging hazards including rocket and space‑launch debris, further underscore the need for proactive and adaptive safety approaches.

Ensuring the highest levels of aviation safety requires a proactive, data-driven approach. Strengthening data-sharing mechanisms, such as through IATA's Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) program, is essential to this effort. By pooling safety intelligence, emerging risks can be identified more effectively, enabling timely, targeted interventions.

Safety is a shared responsibility. Robust risk management, timely publication of accident investigation reports, and proactive mitigation measures are essential to reducing risks. IATA remains fully committed to data-driven safety strategies and close collaboration with industry stakeholders to continuously strengthen aviation safety.

I extend my gratitude to the Accident Classification Task Force (ACTF), Operations Advisory Council (OAC), Safety Group (SG), Cabin Operations Safety Task Force (COSTF), Human Factors Task Force (HFTF), and all IATA staff for their dedication to this mission.

Aviation safety depends on continuous vigilance, strong leadership, and global collaboration. While the global aviation system once again demonstrated its resilience in 2025, the year underscored that past safety achievements must never be taken for granted. The 394 onboard fatalities recorded serve as a stark reminder of the need to address both existing and emerging risks with sustained focus and commitment.

At the same time, important safety achievements were realized. For example, the absence of any Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) accidents represents a notable milestone, reflecting the effectiveness of targeted safety initiatives, strengthened operational practices, and industry-wide collaboration and learning.

That said, other operational risks persist. For the second consecutive year, tail strikes, runway excursions, and landing gear events remained the most frequent accident categories. These trends reinforce the importance of vigilance, data-driven interventions, and targeted training to further reduce operational risk and sustain safety improvements.

While these occurrences were non-fatal, their continued prevalence highlights persistent challenges related to abnormal runway contact, crew response to unusual situations, manual handling, runway condition awareness, adherence to standard operating procedures, adverse weather conditions and other factors.

IATA continues to advocate for full compliance with ICAO Annex 13 requirements. This issue was raised at the ICAO 2025 General Assembly, where the Commission recognized ongoing concerns around accident investigations and delays in publishing final accident reports. ICAO agreed to urge States to expedite their release of reports; other items were referred to the relevant ICAO expert groups for further review and action.

Looking at the five-year period from 2019 to 2023, nine events remain unclassified due to insufficient data as accident investigations remain incomplete, or final accident reports remain unpublished. Regardless of political or operational challenges, States have an obligation to publish accident investigation reports, as defined by the Chicago Convention, because each report provides valuable lessons to support global efforts to avoid the reoccurrence of events leading to further accidents.

IATA has identified measurable progress in strengthening investigation practices, improving the publication of final reports and seeing some States observing the requirement to issue interim reports at each anniversary of an occurrence. Despite these advancements, the timely release of investigation reports remains a persistent challenge where IATA will remain focused until global compliance with ICAO Annex 13 is secured.

To further strengthen transparency and support industry-wide learning, IATA has established a centralized platform titled Safety Recommendations from Accident Investigation Reports. This platform compiles safety recommendations from publicly available final investigation reports into a single, comprehensive repository. This initiative enhances global accessibility to safety insights, promotes data‑driven analysis, and reinforces collective efforts to prevent recurrence of similar events.

Safety data and intelligence remain central to guiding industry priorities. The IATA Annual Safety Report plays a critical role in benchmarking performance, identifying key risks, and driving continuous safety improvement across the global aviation system. This work is supported by the IATA Safety Strategy: Safety Leadership, Safety Risk, and Safety Connect, which together strengthen leadership, enhance risk identification and mitigation, and enable global collaboration across the industry though direct peer-to-peer engagement.

Strong Safety Leadership and a positive safety culture are essential in an increasingly complex operating environment. The continued growth of the IATA Safety Leadership Charter, now endorsed by more than 210 airline Chief Executives, reflects strong executive commitment to embedding safety-conscious behaviors and seeking to deliver continuous improvement. This focus is also integrated into the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) through new maturity assessment and risk-based auditing criteria.

The IATA Safety Issue Hub, hosted on IATA Connect, continues to grow in the volume of issues raised, the breadth of expertise shared, and engagement with utilization doubling in 2025. It now serves as a repository for nearly 100 safety issues, more than 200 guidance materials, and a wide range of safety risk assessments.

The Hub has also expanded to include dedicated blogs and content covering regional safety risk pictures and emerging safety topics. The incorporation of occurrence data provides enhanced analytical insights, supporting more robust, data‑driven decision‑making. The Safety Issue Hub is recognized as a global repository of aviation risks and is used by multiple stakeholders, including accident investigation authorities.

IATA Connect facilitates the secure and efficient exchange of safety and operational related information, including IOSA and ISAGO documentation, Safety Connect discussion groups, and professional directories. As a dedicated platform for the global aviation community, since its launch in 2024, it has welcomed more than 4,200 airline users.

Safety Promotion is key to mitigating operational and systemic safety risks. And industry collaboration ensures the issues are clearly defined, actions make sense to those that must apply them, and measures monitor the effectiveness of the outcomes delivered. IATA is committed to safety promotion through targeted workshops, facilitating industry engagement, and advocating best practices. The IATA World Safety and Operations Conference is the pinnacle of IATA’s annual safety promotion activity, taking place this year on 6-8 October in Istanbul.

IATA urges the global aviation community and all stakeholders to redouble their commitment to safety, recognizing that progress must not lead to complacency. Every flight, passenger, and crew member depends on a system that identifies risks early, shares data transparently, and acts decisively to prevent harm. As the industry faces new operational, technological, and geopolitical complexities, the responsibility to uphold the highest safety standards has never been more urgent.

In conclusion, despite annual fluctuations, the long-term direction is clear: aviation continues to become safer. This progress is made possible by the dedication, professionalism, and vigilance of safety-critical personnel worldwide. I thank each of you for your continued commitment to advancing aviation safety.

In 2025, the civil aviation industry once again delivered millions of safe flight sectors. Billions of passengers and millions of tons of cargo reached their destinations on time after safe and comfortable flights. Only a very small number of journeys in 2025 resulted in accidents, and these are the occurrences that the Accident Classification Task Force (ACTF), review closely.

Using official accident reports, where available, the ACTF classifies all accidents within one year of their occurrence, analyzes emerging trends, and issues safety recommendations. The outcome of this work is what is presented in this IATA Annual Safety Report 2025.

You may have already identified the most prominent trend in 2025   – a slight improvement in the overall accident rate and total number of accidents compared with 2024, but unfortunately, an increase in the number of fatal accidents. The long-term safety trend continues to show a significant reduction in accident rates. The highest priority of the aviation industry is, and always will be, to protect everyone involved from harm. All other considerations are secondary. Consequently, the objective is to reduce the number of fatalities as close to zero as possible. Going one step further, the ultimate goal is zero fatalities.

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) achieve this? It is unlikely to do so on its own. AI will play an important role in identifying hazards and emerging threats enhancing our ability to detect and analyze risk. However, achieving safe operations – and progressing towards our goal of zero fatalities – we need Human Intelligence (HI).

It begins on the ground. What we need is good, old-fashioned expertise combined with dedication and hard work. We rely on motivated ground staff to carry out maintenance, catering, fueling, loading, and boarding, in line with safety procedures and with sufficient ground time between flights.

We also need dedicated cabin crew committed to the safety and well-being of everyone on board. It continues with a professional, well-resourced air traffic control system that guides each aircraft safely through increasingly complex airspace. Finally, in the cockpit, skilled and vigilant crews navigate operational challenges with professionalism and precision.

However, aviation safety is built on foundations laid long before crew and passengers board the aircraft. It begins with manufacturers designing and building reliable aircraft. It includes experienced maintenance staff delivering well-maintained, airworthy aircraft for service. It requires regulators to establish state-of-the-art procedures and regulations that are not only effective in theory but rather proven in practice.

Security teams play a vital role by monitoring their networks around the clock, while governments contribute by ensuring that the aviation industry is properly resourced. Airline managers reinforce safety by putting it first in every decision, alongside many other industry professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes of flight operations. Finally, passengers themselves are part of the safety system. By following instructions, that are in place for their own safety, they contribute to the collective effort that keeps aviation the safest mode of transport.

The question I must ask is: is this achievable? And my answer is simple: why not? We are already close, and we have all it takes to achieve this goal. When every stakeholder involved fulfills their role with the utmost dedication, and a shared commitment for safe operations, when we all live up to the principles set out in our safety policies – we can achieve this together.

Safety has always been and will always remain a team effort and a shared responsibility. It thrives on collaboration, discipline, and a common purpose across every function of the aviation sector.

Let’s do it.