Flying is safe. Not safe in the vague, reassuring sense airlines use in their marketing, but safe in a measurable, statistical sense few other forms of transport can match. In 2024, commercial aviation carried more than five billion passengers on around 40 million flights, and the chance of a fatal accident was so small it is hard to picture without a comparison.
If you are a nervous flyer, statistics alone rarely cure the fear, which is usually about feeling out of control rather than numbers. But knowing the numbers, and why they are what they are, does help many people. This guide sets out the latest safety figures, explains the systems behind them, tackles turbulence honestly, and offers practical advice for anyone who dreads getting on a plane.
How Safe Is Flying? The Numbers
The International Air Transport Association, IATA, publishes the most widely quoted safety figures, and its 2024 Annual Safety Report, released in February 2025, is the latest full picture. In 2024, there were 40.6 million flights worldwide, and the all-accident rate was 1.13 per million flights, or one accident for every 880,000 flights. That was better than the five-year average of 1.25, though slightly worse than the exceptional 1.09 of 2023.
There were seven fatal accidents in 2024, resulting in 244 on-board fatalities, more than the single fatal accident and 72 deaths of 2023, and above the five-year average of five fatal accidents and 144 deaths. Even so, the fatality risk remained low at 0.06, below the five-year average of 0.10. IATA calculates that at that rate, a person would have to fly daily for more than 49,000 years to be involved in a fatal accident.
The longer trend is the most reassuring part. In 2005, the all-accident rate was 3.72 per million flights; by 2024 it had fallen to 1.13. The five-year average has improved from one accident per 456,000 flights a decade ago to one per 810,000 today. IATA puts it plainly: commercial aviation remains one of the safest modes of public transport.
Seven fatal accidents out of 40.6 million flights means roughly one flight in 5.8 million was involved in a fatal accident in 2024. On a typical day, more than 100,000 commercial flights take off around the world, and the overwhelming majority land without incident. You can read the figures yourself in IATA’s 2024 safety briefing.
Why Flying Is So Safe
Flying is not safe by luck. The industry is built around layers of protection, so no single failure, human or mechanical, is enough on its own to cause an accident. Safety experts call this the Swiss cheese model: each layer has holes, but the holes rarely line up.
Aircraft design is the first layer. Modern airliners are built with redundancy: the most important systems have backups. A twin-engine jet can fly and land safely on one engine, and hydraulic, electrical and navigation systems all have duplicates. Every new aircraft type goes through years of testing and certification before it carries a passenger.
Maintenance is the second layer. Aircraft are inspected on a strict schedule, from daily checks before departure to deep overhauls every few years in which the aircraft is taken apart and examined. Parts are replaced on a timetable whether they look worn or not. In the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority oversees this work, and airlines that cut corners lose their licence.
Pilot training is the third layer. Airline pilots train for thousands of hours before flying passengers, and return to the simulator every six months to practise emergencies, from engine failure to severe weather. They work in pairs and follow checklists for every stage of the flight. Air traffic control is the fourth layer, keeping aircraft separated. Behind it all sits a culture of reporting: pilots, engineers and controllers are encouraged to report mistakes and near-misses without punishment, so the whole industry can learn.
What Happens When Something Goes Wrong
Even with all these layers, things do go wrong, and nervous flyers often imagine the worst. The reality is less dramatic: most accidents in the IATA figures are not mid-air disasters. In 2024, the most common types were tail strikes, when the tail touches the runway, and runway excursions, when an aircraft leaves the runway surface. These are serious events, but very different from what most people picture when they think of a plane crash, and they often involve no injuries at all.
When a genuine emergency does happen, the aircraft and crew are prepared. Cabin crew train specifically for evacuations, and aircraft are certified to be evacuated quickly using only half of the exits. Oxygen masks, life jackets and emergency slides are checked before every flight. Modern aircraft can also glide a long way without engine power, and pilots train for engine failure from their first days in the simulator.
The most dangerous phases are take-off and landing, which together last only a few minutes. The cruise, the long middle stretch, is by far the safest part. That is why crew ask you to keep your seatbelt fastened even when the sign is off: the rare injuries in cruise are almost always caused by turbulence throwing unbelted people around the cabin.
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Turbulence: The Thing Nervous Flyers Fear Most
Ask a nervous flyer what scares them and the answer is usually turbulence. It feels alarming: the aircraft shakes, drops and rattles, and your stomach drops with it. But turbulence is one of the most misunderstood parts of flying, and it is far less dangerous than it feels.
Turbulence is simply rough air, caused by wind, weather and air moving over mountains and coastlines. Aircraft are built to withstand far worse turbulence than they ever meet in service: the wings flex by design, and the structure is tested to loads several times greater than anything turbulence produces. Turbulence has almost never brought down a modern airliner.
What turbulence does cause is injuries, and they follow a pattern: they happen to people not wearing seatbelts, usually walking to the toilet or standing in the aisle, and to cabin crew on their feet. Seated passengers with belts fastened are very rarely hurt. The most useful thing you can do is the simplest: stay seated, belt fastened, and let the aircraft ride it out. It will pass, usually within a few minutes.
Pilots also have tools to avoid the worst of it: weather radar shows storm cells ahead, air traffic control routes aircraft around them, and pilots share turbulence reports by radio, so the aircraft behind can climb or descend to smoother air. Sometimes they cannot avoid it entirely, which is when you feel it, but they are never surprised by it.
Choosing A Safer Flight
All commercial flying is safe, but the statistics do show differences between airlines, and there are a few practical choices that stack the odds further in your favour.
The clearest difference in the IATA figures is between airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit register, known as IOSA, and those that are not. In 2024, IOSA airlines, which include all IATA members, had an accident rate of 0.92 per million flights, against 1.70 for non-IOSA carriers. Choosing a major airline on a well-travelled route is, on the numbers, the safer choice.
Direct flights are also slightly safer than connecting ones, because take-off and landing are the riskiest phases, and a direct flight has one of each instead of two. That is a small difference and should not override price or convenience. Larger, newer aircraft are not necessarily safer than older ones: safety depends far more on maintenance and operation than on the age of the airframe.
Flying from the UK, you start from a strong position: UK airlines operate under Civil Aviation Authority oversight, and the UK has one of the best aviation safety records in the world. Short-haul European flights on major carriers are among the safest journeys you can take.
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What To Do If You Feel Anxious
Statistics help the rational part of your brain, but anxiety lives elsewhere and needs practical tools rather than numbers. These are the techniques fear-of-flying courses and therapists most often recommend.
- Learn what the noises mean: the clunks after take-off are the landing gear retracting, the whirring before landing is the flaps extending, and changes in engine sound are the pilots adjusting power. Knowing this removes the fear that something has broken.
- Choose your seat: sit over the wing if turbulence bothers you, where movement is felt least, or take an aisle seat if you dislike feeling enclosed.
- Breathe slowly: anxiety makes breathing fast and shallow, which makes anxiety worse. Breathe in for four counts, hold for four, and breathe out for six. It sounds simple because it is, and it works.
- Tell the crew: they deal with nervous flyers every day, and telling them you are anxious costs nothing. They will check on you during the flight.
- Distract yourself: a film, a book, a podcast or a puzzle gives your brain something to do other than monitor every sound the aircraft makes.
If your fear is severe, consider a fear-of-flying course. British Airways runs one of the best-known, Flying with Confidence, which combines a ground session explaining how aircraft work with a short flight accompanied by pilots and crew. Many people say the ground session alone makes the difference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Flying Safer Than Driving?
Yes, by a wide margin. Commercial aviation has one of the lowest fatality rates of any form of transport, and IATA describes it as one of the safest modes of public transport. Road travel involves far more deaths each year, though most car journeys are short. The comparison is not exact, since cars and aircraft do different jobs, but per journey or per mile, flying comes out far ahead.
What Is The Safest Seat On A Plane?
There is no seat meaningfully safer than any other in a modern airliner. Accident data is sometimes sliced to show small differences, but they are tiny and inconsistent, and no safety authority recommends choosing a seat for safety. Choose the seat that makes you most comfortable: over the wing for the smoothest ride, or an aisle seat if you dislike feeling enclosed.
Has Flying Become Less Safe In Recent Years?
No. The long-term trend is strongly towards greater safety, with the accident rate falling from 3.72 per million flights in 2005 to 1.13 in 2024. Individual years vary: 2024 was worse than the exceptional 2023, which had only one fatal accident, but still better than the five-year average. Year-to-year wobbles are normal with such small numbers, and they do not change the direction of travel.
What Should I Do During Turbulence?
Stay in your seat with your seatbelt fastened, even when the sign is off. Avoid walking around, and if you are on your feet when turbulence starts, sit down in the nearest available seat. It will pass, usually within a few minutes, and the aircraft is built to handle far worse than what you feel.
Conclusion
Flying is safe, and that is not a slogan but a fact supported by decades of data. In 2024, more than five billion people flew on 40 million flights, and the chance of a fatal accident was roughly one in 5.8 million flights. The industry achieves this through layers of protection: redundant design, strict maintenance, rigorous training and a culture of learning from mistakes. Turbulence feels alarming but is not dangerous to a belted passenger, and the cruise is the safest part of the flight. If you are a nervous flyer, the numbers alone may not cure the fear, but with a little knowledge of how aircraft work and a few practical techniques, they can make the next flight calmer. The statistics are on your side.
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