ICAO analysis reveals major priorities for air transport safety

Airlines flew more people than ever in 2025, nearly 5 billion passengers – with fewer accidents than the year before, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) just-released global safety data. However, the report sounds a cautionary note: despite drops in accident and fatal accident rates, total fatalities increased, highlighting the challenge of preventing extremely rare but catastrophic events as the world’s appetite for travel continues to soar.

The data pertain to scheduled commercial air transport involving airplanes with maximum take-off mass (MTOM) over 5 700kg, and were published in ICAO’s latest Safety Report today. The report tracks progress under ICAO’s Global Aviation Safety Plan, which provides the framework for Member States, regional entities and industry stakeholders to develop strategies aimed at improving international civil aviation safety.

In 2025, commercial airlines carried approximately 5 billion passengers on 38 million flights, both higher than in 2024. At the same time, the total number of accidents fell from 95 to 85.

“These results demonstrate that aviation can and must continue to become safer even as more people fly,” remarked ICAO Council President Toshiyuki Onuma. “They reflect ICAO’s leadership of decades of collaboration among States and industry to identify risks, learn from accidents, strengthen oversight, and improve safety worldwide."

Fewer accidents despite more flights

One of the clearest indicators of progress is the global accident rate, which measures how many accidents occur per one million flight departures.

In 2025, the global accident rate improved from 2.6 to 2.2 accidents per million departures, a reduction of nearly 13 per cent. Put simply, airlines conducted more flights while experiencing fewer accidents overall.

Why fatalities increased despite safety improvements

Although there were fewer fatal accidents, the total number of fatalities increased from 296 in 2024 to 387 in 2025. Similarly, the fatality rate—the number of deaths per billion passengers carried—increased from 65 to 78. The reason is that a small number of accidents accounted for a large share of the lives lost.

Strong safety systems are essential

Beyond accident statistics, ICAO also assesses how effectively national aviation authorities oversee safety. This is measured through ICAO's Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme, which evaluates whether States have the laws, regulations, inspectors, technical expertise, and oversight systems and State Safety Programmes needed to ensure safe aviation operations.