Air travel is statistically one of the safest modes of transporation . But a series of recent airline accidents has rattled the industry and the public - leading to a surge in Google searches for "is flying safe" in recent weeks.
Authors
- Thomas Walker
Professor, Finance, Concordia University
- Hamed Khadivar
Assistant Professor, Finance, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
The number of fatal airline accidents jumped from just one in 2023 to at least seven in 2024 - drawing renewed attention to aviation safety. We're only a few months into 2025 and multiple fatal aviation incidents have already occurred worldwide. This has only reinforced concerns about ongoing safety challenges.
These incidents have revealed how ongoing safety violations , infrastructure oversight failures , shortcomings in pilot training and corporate decision-making issues can have deadly consequences.
Although airline safety has actually improved over the past few decades, these recent events are a stark reminder that constant vigilance is key.
Governance failures
Aviation safety is not just about technology or pilot skill - it's also about corporate decision-making, oversight and leadership. What happens in the boardroom can influence what happens in the cockpit.
In our own study , which used data from 70 countries collected between 1990 and 2016, we found a link between the stability of an airline's executive board and airline safety outcomes.
Our study found that airlines with weak governance, high executive turnover and overextended directors tend to have more accidents. In contrast, airlines with stable, experienced leadership saw fewer.
Many of last year's aviation accidents can be attributed to such organizational failures.
For example, in Nepal, a catastrophic passenger plane crash that killed 18 people was attributed to the airline ignoring cargo weight limits and speed guidelines.
In Brazil , the deadly crash of a passenger airplane en route to São Paulo was caused by the pilots underestimating severe icing conditions. The pilots' actions indicate possible training gaps.
Meanwhile, in South Korea , the Jeju Air crash in December 2024 that killed nearly 200 passengers was attributed to the airline rushing an emergency landing under unsafe conditions. This exposed flaws in risk assessment.
Poor airline governance can also pave the way for financial distress, which is another factor linked to increased risk of accidents . In our cross-country study, pilot errors and mechanical failures accounted for about 75 per cent of airplane accidents - underscoring how board decisions around training, maintenance and resource allocation directly influence safety outcomes.
When airlines face financial strain, they may delay maintenance, reduce crew training or push tighter schedules - all of which erode safety over time.
The 2009 Colgan Air crash in Buffalo and the 2013 Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco were both tied to pilot fatigue and inadequate training. Both of these issues are directly influenced by airline policies. In fact, one study found that fatigue and scheduling pressures can significantly increase accident likelihood when airlines fail to set and enforce effective rest and training standards.
Oversight failures
Regulators also play a key role in preventing aviation disasters. But when oversight weakens or regulators become too lenient, safety can suffer.
The Boeing 737 MAX crisis that occurred between 2018 and 2019 is a prime example.
Two fatal Boeing crashes - which killed 346 people in total - were traced to design flaws that regulators failed to catch . Boeing was under intense pressure to compete with Airbus and downplayed safety risks. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also relied too heavily on Boeing's own safety assessments .
Last year, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 brought Boeing back into the spotlight. A mid-air panel blowout on a 737-9 MAX forced an emergency landing, leading to the FAA grounding the entire MAX 9 fleet. Investigators found several fastener bolts missing from the aircraft's mid-cabin door plug, raising concerns about quality control failures in Boeing's production process.
Regulatory failures can also extend to airport safety and air traffic control. The Haneda Airport runway collision in Japan in early 2024 exposed complacency in ground safety procedures. Similar unaddressed runway safety issues were also a factor in the South Korea's Jeju Air crash.
Lessons for safer skies
No system is perfect, but there are many proactive steps industry leaders and regulators can take to minimize future risks, including:
- Strengthening board oversight: Airlines should ensure credible aviation safety expertise is present in top leadership roles . This ensures that critical safety considerations reach the highest levels of decision-making, rather than being siloed within lower management tiers. Additionally, forming dedicated safety committees can promote ongoing oversight and proactive discussions around potential risks.
- Prioritize stable leadership: Frequent executive turnover can lead to inconsistent safety policies . Strong leadership fosters a long-term culture of safety.
- Improve pilot training: Airlines must invest in advanced simulator programs and continuous training to ensure crews are prepared for unexpected scenarios.
- Targeted oversight for high-risk carriers: Regulators should conduct stricter inspections on airlines showing financial distress or repeated safety violations.
- Encourage transparency: A non-punitive safety reporting system would allow pilots, engineers and ground crew to flag risks before they escalate.
Flying remains extraordinarily safe - and is statistically safer than driving . Between 2000 and 2022 in the U.S., 885,250 people were killed in passenger-vehicle accidents - compared with 12,644 fatalities in aviation.
But trust in air travel is built on more than just statistics. The public expects airlines and regulators to take proactive steps to prevent avoidable disasters. Every crash investigation has uncovered lessons that, when they've been implemented, can make flying even safer . The challenge is ensuring those lessons lead to lasting reforms - not just temporary fixes.
The public can also play a role in holding industry leaders accountable . They can do this by demanding transparency, supporting safety-focused policies and questioning whether cost-cutting is coming at the expense of safety.
Safety improvements shouldn't have to come about only as a result of tragedy. It's time for the industry to start taking proactive changes now to improve aviation safety and prevent tragedies in the future.
This story was co-authored by Pedram Fardnia, Data and Analytics Lead at BOXX Insurance, who completed his PhD in Finance at Concordia University in 2020. His thesis focused on corporate governance in finance.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
