- Fatal accident rates improved from one per 3.5m flights to one per 5.6m flights
- 394 lives lost in aviation accidents during 2025
- Three priorities identified: knowledge transfer, combining experience with new capabilities, protecting safety culture
- Technology must support decision-making and remain resilient when unavailable
- Inconsistent implementation of standards remains a key challenge
The International Air Transport Association has highlighted the need for stronger integration of people, technology, and global standards to deliver the next advances in aviation safety. The organisation shared findings at the IATA World Safety and Operations Conference 2026 in Istanbul. The organisation shared that aviation is safer today than it was a decade ago, with fatal accident rates improving from one accident per 3.5m flights to one per 5.6m flights. The organisation shared that 2025 saw the loss of 394 lives in aviation accidents.
Three priorities were identified to sustain and strengthen aviation’s safety performance as a new generation of aviation professionals rises in the workforce. Structured knowledge transfer preserves decades of operational expertise through mentoring, training and succession planning. Combining experience with new capabilities brings together the operational knowledge of experienced professionals with the digital skills and AI fluency of a new generation. Protecting safety culture maintains an environment in which people can report hazards, errors and near misses without fear, enabling the industry to learn, improve and prevent future incidents.
The adoption of new technologies, including AI, should be assessed against three key tests. These include whether it helps safety professionals understand what is happening around them, whether it supports better decision-making, and whether the operation can remain safe if the technology is unavailable or compromised. The strong safety performance of airlines on the IOSA registry demonstrates the value of common global standards backed by effective oversight. Today many of aviation’s biggest safety challenges stem from inconsistent implementation and oversight, rather than a lack of global standards.
Aviation is safer today than it was a decade ago. In that timeframe, fatal accident rates have improved from one accident per 3.5m flights to one per 5.6m flights. However, 2025 still saw the loss of 394 lives in aviation accidents. The next advance in safety will come from people, technology and standards working together better as one resilient system.
Three priorities were identified to sustain and strengthen aviation’s safety performance as a new generation of aviation professionals brought up in the digital age rises in the workforce. Structured knowledge transfer involves preserving decades of operational expertise through structured mentoring, training and succession planning. Combining experience with new capabilities brings together the operational knowledge of experienced professionals with the digital skills and artificial intelligence fluency of a new generation. Protecting safety culture involves maintaining an environment in which people can report hazards, errors and near misses without fear, enabling the industry to learn, improve and prevent future incidents. The adoption of new technologies including AI should be assessed against three key tests: does it help safety professionals understand what is happening around them, does it support better decision-making, and can the operation remain safe if the technology is unavailable or compromised.
The strong safety performance of airlines on the IOSA registry demonstrates the value of common global standards backed by effective oversight. Despite this positive example, many of aviation’s biggest safety challenges stem from inconsistent implementation and oversight, rather than a lack of global standards. Three actions were identified for strengthening the effectiveness of global standards. Improve implementation and oversight by focusing limited resources on the areas of greatest risk and ensuring standards are applied consistently across the aviation system. Strengthen State compliance with international obligations, particularly in the areas of conflict zone risk information and accident reporting. Keep standards relevant by simplifying, modernising and updating requirements to reflect changes in technology, operations and the regulatory environment.
Mark Searle shared “Aviation is safer today than it was a decade ago. In that timeframe, fatal accident rates have improved from one accident per 3.5m flights to one per 5.6m flights. But 2025 still saw the loss of 394 lives in aviation accidents. Every fatality strengthens our resolve to do better. The next advance in safety will come from people, technology, and standards working together better as one resilient system.”
