How Often Do Planes Crash?
Sources: IATA Annual Safety Report, ICAO, ASN · Updated May 2026
Very rarely. The IATA 2024 Safety Report (published February 2025) recorded seven fatal accidents among 40.6 million flights — about one fatal accident per 5.8 million flights for commercial jet operations. The all-accident rate (fatal plus non-fatal hull losses and major events) was 1.13 per million flights, or one accident per 880,000 flights. The five-year average (2020-2024) is one accident per 810,000 flights, sharply better than the 2011-2015 five-year average of one per 456,000 flights. Long-term, aviation has roughly doubled in safety every decade. On a per-mile basis, commercial flying is approximately two orders of magnitude safer than driving in most developed countries.
The 2024 numbers
The IATA Annual Safety Report aggregates data across all commercial jet operators worldwide. The 2024 edition reports:
- →40.6 million flights operated worldwide
- →7 fatal accidents across all commercial jet operations
- →All-accident rate: 1.13 per million flights (one per 880,000)
- →244 on-board fatalities (up from 72 in 2023)
- →Fatality risk: 0.06 (vs. five-year average 0.10)
The fatality risk metric measures the average probability of an on-board passenger being killed; at the 2024 rate, a person would need to fly daily for over 100,000 years to statistically experience a fatal event.
The long-term trend
The improvement over decades is large and remarkably consistent:
Why aviation keeps getting safer
The reasons are systemic, not single-bullet:
- →Mandatory accident investigation under ICAO Annex 13 with public reports
- →Flight data monitoring (FOQA / FDM) reads every flight, not just incidents
- →Crew Resource Management training since the 1980s
- →EGPWS terrain-warning systems — drastically reduced controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accidents
- →TCAS collision avoidance — eliminated mid-air collisions in revenue service
- →Safety Management Systems (SMS) — proactive hazard identification
- →Regulatory oversight under ICAO USOAP audits
- →Modern airliner reliability — engines, avionics, structures
Aviation versus other transport modes
Per passenger-mile, commercial aviation is far safer than road transport. US National Safety Council and Eurostat figures generally show aviation fatality risk at roughly 1/100th the risk of driving the same distance. Per trip basis, the gap is smaller because a flight covers much more distance than a typical car trip. Either way, aviation is among the safest modes of transport in widespread use.
Why year-to-year fatalities fluctuate
The number of accidents is small enough that one or two high-fatality events change the annual total dramatically. The 2024 total of 244 fatalities was driven up by a small number of larger events; 2023 had 72; 2017 had a single passenger-jet fatality on a scheduled commercial flight. Year-to-year volatility is high, but the five-year average steadily declines. That is the meaningful trend.
Are some regions safer than others?
The IATA report breaks accident rates down by region. North America, Europe, Northeast Asia, and the Asia-Pacific (excluding CIS) consistently post the lowest rates. Africa and Latin America have higher rates but have also shown the steepest improvement over the past two decades. The most consistent predictor of regional safety is the strength of regulatory oversight and the share of fleet operated by IOSA-registered carriers (IATA Operational Safety Audit).
Sources
- IATA Annual Safety Report 2024 (published 26 February 2025)
- IATA 2024 Full Year Accident Performance Update
- ICAO Safety Report (annual) — Global Aviation Safety Plan
- Aviation Safety Network (ASN) accident database
- ICAO Annex 13 — Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation
- NTSB Annual Reports