The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its 2025 Annual Safety Report demonstrating a solid year of safety performance with the following highlights: 

• The all-accident rate of 1.32 per million flights (one accident per 759,646 flights) was better than the 1.42 recorded in 2024 but slightly above the 2021-2025 five-year average of 1.27. 
• There were 51 accidents in 2025 among 38.7 million flights. That is fewer than the 54 accidents among 37.9 million flights in 2024, but above the 2021-2025 five-year average of 44 accidents.
• There were eight fatal accidents in 2025. That is more than the seven fatal accidents recorded in 2024 and the five-year average of six fatal accidents. 
• There were 394 onboard fatalities in 2025, more than the 244 fatalities reported in 2024 and the five-year average of 198. 

Key insights from the report include:

• The most common accidents in 2025 were tail strikes, landing gear events, runway excursions, and ground damage. This underscores the importance of take-off, landing, and ground handling safety measures. Notably there were no loss of control inflight (LOC-I) accidents in 2025. It is the second time this has been achieved (previously in 2020) and is significant as LOC-I are a leading cause of fatalities. 
• Airport facilities contributed to 16% of accidents in 2025. This reinforces the need to fully respect global standards for runway safety areas, frangible installations within safety zones, and the effective mitigation of hazards such as runway surface contaminants, inadequate markings or lighting, and obstacles within protected areas or near runways.

The integral version of the report (six pages, with tables) is attached to this AVIONEWS.