World Meteorological Organization

The 2024 Safety Report of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was published today, 26 February 2025, and is available for interactive online viewing here. 

Through his involvement in IATA's Accident Classification Task Force (ACTF), Greg Brock, Chief of WMO's Services for Aviation Section has directly contributed to the analysis of the 2024 accidents reflected in this latest report. 

Here are some of the headlines: 

• The aviation industry remained steadfast in its commitment to maintaining and enhancing safety in 2024. The industry successfully transported 5 billion passengers worldwide on over 40 million flights.
• Commercial aviation continues to be one of the safest modes of public transportation, as demonstrated by the long-term trend of significantly reduced accident rates, decreasing from 3.72 accidents per million sectors in 2005 to 1.13 in 2024. This improvement is attributed to the industry’s dedication to safety, leveraging advancements in safety management, technology, training, and safety culture to mitigate future risks.
• 2024 experienced a slight increase in both non-fatal and fatal accidents, with seven fatal accidents resulting in a total of 251 fatalities.

IATA’s interactive portal here allows users to delve into the data (dating back to 2005) in more detail. By doing so, it becomes apparent – under the ‘Undesired Aircraft States’ and ‘Threats and Error Management’ classifications – that thunderstorms/convection, low visibility/instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and wind/wind shear/turbulence as well as unnecessary weather penetration by flight crew, at and near airports and in airspace, feature as the most prominent weather-related threats and errors. 

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