Airlines certified under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety programme and those belonging to the global airline body delivered significantly stronger safety performance in 2025, outperforming non-member and non-certified carriers, according to the industry’s latest safety report.
In its 2025 Annual Safety Report released in Geneva, IATA said airlines listed in the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry recorded an accident rate of 0.98 per million flights, far lower than the 2.55 accident rate recorded by non-IOSA carriers.
Similarly, IATA member airlines achieved an accident rate of 0.72 per million flights, significantly outperforming non-IATA operators, which recorded 3.09 accidents per million flights.
The report highlighted the strong impact of global safety standards, audits, and industry collaboration in improving aviation safety performance.
Overall, global aviation safety showed modest improvement in 2025. The all-accident rate declined to 1.32 per million flights, equivalent to one accident in every 759,646 flights, compared with 1.42 in 2024. However, the figure remains slightly above the five-year average of 1.27.
According to the report, 51 accidents were recorded globally in 2025 among 38.7 million flights, compared with 54 accidents from 37.9 million flights in 2024.
Despite the improvement in accident rates, the number of fatal accidents increased slightly to eight in 2025, compared with seven in 2024 and a five-year average of six.
Total onboard fatalities also rose to 394 in 2025, up from 244 in 2024 and higher than the five-year average of 198.
The Director General of IATA, Willie Walsh, said the results reinforce the importance of strong safety oversight and adherence to global standards across the industry.
“Flying is the safest form of long-distance travel. Accidents are extremely rare and each one reminds us to remain focused on continuous improvement through global standards and collaboration guided by safety data”, Walsh said.
He noted that aviation safety has improved significantly over the past decade. While the global fatal accident rate stood at one fatal accident for every 3.5 million flights between 2012 and 2016, it has improved to one fatal accident for every 5.6 million flights between 2021 and 2025.
Walsh emphasised that even a single accident can affect global safety statistics because of the nearly 40 million flights operated worldwide each year.
“Every accident is one too many. The goal for aviation remains zero accidents and zero fatalities”, he added.