Air travel safety is a topic on many people’s minds following the influx of plane crashes, collisions, or breakdowns in the news.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lists over 40 aviation accidents or incidents that occurred within the first month of 2025 in the United States, including general and commercial flights. The documented incidences included the devastating Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 midair collision on January 29, and the medical transport plane crash that happened in Philadelphia on January 31.
But should travelers let their flight anxiety get the best of them? Experts say no. In fact, air travel is still considered the safest mode of transportation.
“I don’t know that passengers should be worried, but I think it’s important for the flying public to be vocal and demand that the government and the different entities do everything possible to make air travel as safe as possible,” Anthony Brickhouse, a U.S.-based aviation safety expert, told CNN. “Statistically speaking, you’re safer in your flight than you were driving in your car to the airport.”
What Else Should I Know About Air Travel Safety?
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) hasn’t released its safety report for 2024 yet. However, the 2023 edition noted that the latter was “an exceptionally safe year,” with 30 commercial aviation accidents in total.
“On average, a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a fatal accident,” the 2023 report stated.
Moreover, an August 2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study claims air travel has also gotten safer on a global scale. The study stated, “The risk of a fatality from commercial air travel was 1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings globally in the 2018 to 2022 period.” In comparison, those numbers were 1 per 7.9 million boardings from 2008 to 2017 and 1 per every 350,000 boardings between 1968 and 1977.
The FAA defines “near midair collision” as “an incident associated with the operation of an aircraft in which a possibility of collision occurs as a result of proximity of less than 500 feet to another aircraft.” In 2023, there was an uptick in those occurrences. However, according to TIME, close-call near misses have declined. Moreover, under the Biden administration, measures were implemented to lessen the number of times near collisions occurred.
After President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, air travel safety remains an ongoing topic. Numerous changes have been made at the governmental level that could impact the sector in the long term. TSA Administrator David Pekoske — initially appointed to the role by Trump in 2017 — was fired after Trump took office for the second time. Moreover, the Aviation Safety Advisory Committee — an advisory organization for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) — has had its members’ memberships terminated, essentially making the organization defunct.
