In 2025, the number of fatal accidents in global air travel rose slightly year-over-year, according to a new report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
IATA’s annual safety report shows that there were eight fatal air travel accidents in 2025, an increase over the seven fatal accidents in 2024 and also higher than the five-year average rate of six fatal accidents per year.
Many travelers will remember high-profile aviation accidents that occurred in 2025, like the tragic mid-air collision in Washington D.C., which resulted in dozens of fatalities. Other notable incidents last year, like when a Delta plane flipped over after landing on a snowy runway in Toronto, resulted in several critical injuries.
Other statistics in IATA’s 2025 safety report show the rates of other types of accidents improved slightly last year compared to 2024. The all-accident rate for 2025 was 1.32 per million flights (or one accident per 759,646 flights), which was better than 2024’s rate of 1.42 accidents per million flights. However, it still topped the five-year average rate of 1.27.
In 2025, there were a total of 51 accidents among 38.7 million flights. That’s an improvement from the 54 accidents among 37.9 million flights in 2024, but higher than the five-year average of 44 accidents.
Despite the fact that fatalities increased last year, IATA reassured passengers that air travel remains “the safest form of long-distance travel,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. “Accidents are extremely rare and each one reminds us to be even more focused on continuous improvement through global standards and collaboration guided by safety data.”
Walsh said that as a result, the five-year rolling average rate for fatal accidents has significantly improved in the last decade. From 2012 to 2016, there was one fatal accident for every 3.5 million flights, whereas today the rate is one fatal accident for every 5.6 million flights.
“Flying is so safe that even one accident among the nearly 40 million flights operated annually moves the global data,” Walsh said. “Every accident is, of course, one too many. The goal for aviation remains zero accidents and zero fatalities.”
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