The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) released its 2025 State of Global Aviation Safety report, highlighting a notable increase in commercial air transport accidents and fatalities.
The report provides a detailed look at global safety trends, with a particular focus on 2024. Last year saw a significant recovery in global air travel, with approximately 4.528 billion passengers transported worldwide—an 8.6% increase from 2023 however, safety statistics paint a more complex picture.
The total number of accidents involving scheduled commercial operations with aircraft over 5,700 kg (12,566lbs) increased by 43.9% from 2023, with 95 accidents recorded in 2024 compared to 66 the previous year. Aviation fatalities also increased from 72 in 2023 to 296 in 2024. The Asia-Pacific region experienced the highest toll, with three fatal accidents resulting in 185 deaths, followed by Europe and the North Atlantic with three fatal accidents causing 40 fatalities.
Despite the year-over-year increase, long-term trends remain positive. 2024 accident figures are still below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, even with higher passenger numbers, indicating continued improvements in aviation safety.
ICAO’s report also noted four high-risk accident types: controlled flight into terrain, loss of control in flight, mid-air collisions, and runway incursions, which together made up 25% of fatalities and 40% of fatal accidents in 2024.
In response, ICAO is advancing several targeted safety initiatives, including global runway safety programs, enhanced turbulence monitoring, GNSS protection, improved data-driven reporting, civil-military airspace coordination, and frameworks for safely integrating unmanned aircraft and advanced air mobility vehicles.
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