The Air India plane that crashed on Thursday 12 June, killing at least 240 people, was the latest in a long list of aviation disasters this year.
Understandably, any aircraft disaster or near miss fuels many travellers’ worries about flying.
But plane crashes are still thankfully very rare and, according to experts, flying is still the safest form of transport.
If you’re a nervous flyer, here’s reassurance from industry specialists, plus a guide to the world’s safest airlines.
US experiences first major fatal aircraft crash since 2009
The Air India disaster follows a recent string of alarming aviation incidents.
In January, a midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army helicopter that killed 67 people near Washington became the first major fatal crash on American soil since 2009.
In December last year, a jetliner operated by Jeju Air skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
All but two of the 181 people aboard were killed in one of that country’s worst aviation disasters.
Also in December, an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed after being hit by what was thought to be a Russian missile during the aircraft’s approach to Grozny.
Of the 67 people on board, 38 died in the accident, including both of the pilots and a flight attendant, while 29 people survived with injuries.
Other recent incidents include an airliner clipping another in February while taxiing at the Seattle airport.
In March, an American Airlines plane caught fire after landing in Denver, sending 12 people to the hospital.
Then, a sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey in April, killing six people.
Flying today is safer than ever, experts say
The dramatic and horrifying nature of airline disasters means it is hard to put them into perspective.
The reality is that flying is safer today than ever. According to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the 2018-2022 period, the risk of dying through air travel was calculated to be 1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings.
That’s down from 1 per 7.9 million boardings in 2008-2017 and a major decrease from the 1 per every 350,000 boardings in 1968 to 1977.
Research from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Academy has shown that up to 80 per cent of aviation accidents can be attributed to human error.
A mistake on the pilots’ part is thought to account for 53 per cent of accidents, while mechanical failure was considered to be at fault in just 21 per cent of cases.
Airbus studied which part of the flight was most dangerous, and found that takeoff and landing were when accidents were most likely to occur.
Both of the two December 2024 crashes happened when landing, although other factors were in play.
In the Jeju Air crash, for example, there were reports of an engine being damaged after hitting a bird, and the aircraft, for an as yet unknown reason, did not have its landing gear deployed when it touched down.
The investigation will be long and complex, and it’s likely to be some time before we understand exactly what happened.
Every air accident makes air travel safer
The small silver lining in the string of recent incidents is that every accident serves to make air travel safer in the future.
“One of the strengths of aviation safety processes is that whenever any tragedy does occur, we analyse what happened and take appropriate action to ensure, to the extent possible, that the same type of accident will not occur again,” explains Janet Northcote, a spokesperson for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
In the case of both the Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines crashes, the infamous ‘black boxes’ were recovered and sent for further investigation.
These two boxes, which are actually bright orange in colour, are the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and should shed some light on what happened prior to the crash.
Accident investigators on the ground also collect data to be analysed in a lab to determine the cause of the crash.
Reports from the investigations are used to make recommendations to avoid a similar situation in the future.
“This constant cycle of improvement is fundamental to keeping the aviation safety record strong,” says Northcote.
What makes an airline safer?
AirlineRatings, an airline review site, released its annual rankings of the world’s safest airlines earlier this year.
It lists out the top 25 carriers based on a multitude of factors, including the age of its aircraft, the number of planes it operates, the pilot training it provides and the rate of incidents reported.
It considers airline profitability, as those doing less well financially may be less inclined to invest in training, maintenance and improvements, theoretically lowering their ability to remain safe.
The ranking also considers whether the airline is from a country that has passed the ICAO country audit, known as the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). This audit allows ICAO to assess the implementation of safety oversight in the nation and compliance with best practices.
Finally, it considers whether the airline has passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), a global industry standard for airline operational safety auditing.
What are the safest airlines to fly with?
For 2025, the world’s safest airline was Air New Zealand for the second year in a row. The Kiwi airline often vies with its antipodean neighbour Qantas for the top spot, taking the crown in 2024 and 2022.
The first 11 places in the safest airlines ranking for 2025 are dominated by Asia-Pacific and Middle East airlines. But European airlines put in a good show too, taking seven of the top 25 places on the list.
Turkish Airlines, straddling the market between Europe and Asia, is the safest airline in Europe. It came 13th in the global rankings, earning a seven-star rating on the platform.
Despite operating to more destinations than any other airline in the world, Turkish hasn’t had a fatal accident since 2009, when a Boeing 737 crashed on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Nine people died as a result of the crash, but 126 survived.
TAP Portugal snagged 14th place in the rankings, making it the second-safest airline in Europe. It hasn’t lost a passenger since 1977 and regularly runs fear-of-flying courses in partnership with the Unidade de Cuidados Integrados de Saúde (UCS).
A flurry of European carriers made up the bottom half of the list. In order, they were SAS (16th), British Airways (17th), Iberia (18th), Finnair (19th) and the Lufthansa Group, which also includes SWISS (20th).
What are the safest low-cost airlines in Europe?
AirlineRatings assesses low-cost carriers separately from their full-service counterparts, and European airlines put in a great showing in the 2025 ranking.
Top of the list is behemoth low-cost airline Ryanair, which claimed 3rd place in the global ranking and was the safest budget airline in Europe. In its 40-year history, the airline has never had a fatal accident, and says it “continues to prioritise the safety and security of our people and customers above all else.”
Following closely behind was easyJet, a UK-headquartered airline. It came 4th in the global rankings, making it the second safest European low-cost airline. Like Ryanair, it hasn’t had a fatal accident in its 30 years of operations.
Further down the list in 7th place globally, Wizz Air secured its place as the third safest low-cost airline in Europe. Again, being a relatively young airline, it has never lost a passenger and has a fleet of new Airbus aircraft, averaging under five years old.
Also appearing in the top 25 safest low-cost airlines in the world were Norwegian (12th), Vueling (13th), Jet2 (14th), Eurowings (20th) and airBaltic, just scraping in at 25th position.