Africa Records Highest Aviation Accident Rate in 2025 — IATA report

The International Air Transport Association has shared that Africa had the highest rate of aviation accidents worldwide in 2025, as detailed in their Annual Safety Report. This highlights ongoing difficulties with runway safety, turboprop flights, and thorough accident investigations.

Their website’s Monday report noted seven accidents in Africa, down from 11 in 2024. The overall accident rate for the region was 7.86 per million flights, marking an improvement from the five-year regional average of 9.37.

Still, the continent’s risk of fatalities went up significantly, jumping from zero in 2024 to 2.19 per million flights. This increase was mainly due to incidents involving turboprops.

The IATA noted that turboprops accounted for 71% of accidents involving African airlines. The most frequent types of these accidents were runway excursions and other events that were difficult to classify precisely due to limited data.

In comparison, other regions experienced lower accident rates and fatality risk. The report highlighted that in 2025, the Asia-Pacific region recorded six accidents, down from seven in 2024, and fatality risk remained steady at 0.15 per million flights. 

Europe recorded 11 accidents, an improvement from 12 the previous year, and maintained a zero fatality risk. Latin America and the Caribbean reported five accidents, the same as in 2024, but the fatality risk dropped from 0.37 to 0.26 per million flights. 

North America saw 16 accidents, up from 14, and its fatality risk went from zero to 0.21. The Middle East and North Africa recorded one accident with no fatalities, and North Asia recorded one non-fatal accident, keeping its fatality risk at zero. 

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The Commonwealth of Independent States experienced four accidents, all involving turboprops, and its fatality risk rose from zero in 2024 to 0.69. IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, pointed to infrastructure as a key factor in accident outcomes. 

He noted that rigid obstacles near runways can increase accident severity, potentially turning survivable accidents into fatal ones. Walsh suggested that all airports and regulators should continuously review runway safety areas and structures near runways to ensure they comply with global safety standards.

“Airport infrastructure and runway environments play a critical role in accident outcomes. In several events, rigid obstacles near runways increased accident severity, likely turning otherwise survivable occurrences into fatal ones,” he said.

The report also pointed out that Africa is significantly behind in its accident investigations. Only 19% of accident reports were completed under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention, which is much lower than 81% in the Commonwealth of Independent States and 78% in North America. 

Walsh said, “Accident investigation helps us improve safety, but many reports are not published in a timely, complete, or accessible way… coordinated global support to strengthen investigation capabilities is needed.”

Looking at the global picture, the year 2025 saw 51 accidents out of 38.7 million flights, which was slightly fewer than the 54 accidents in 2024. However, the number of fatal accidents went up to eight, leading to 394 people onboard losing their lives, compared to 244 in 2024.

Walsh emphasised, “Flying is the safest form of long-distance travel… every accident is, of course, one too many. The goal for aviation remains zero accidents and zero fatalities.”

The IATA report also warned of emerging risks from conflict zones and GNSS interference, which can mislead aircraft navigation.

Walsh stressed, “Civil aircraft must never be placed at risk from military activity, deliberately or accidentally.

“When tensions rise, governments must share timely risk information, ensure effective civil–military coordination, and provide airlines with sufficient information for their own risk assessments.”