IATA reports improved fatal incident rate and outlines safety priorities

The International Air Transport Association says the fatal incident rate has improved from one per 3.5 million flights to one per 5.6 million flights over the last decade, and there were 394 fatalities in aviation incidents in 2025.

IATA identified three safety priorities—structured knowledge transfer, integration of experience with new skills, and protection of safety culture—and recommends that new technologies, including AI, be evaluated on whether they aid safety professionals, improve decision making, and verify process safety, while warning that the aviation system must stay resilient when technology is unavailable, degraded, or misleading.