By the numbers, travel by plane is only getting safer. If we look beyond commercial flying at “civil” aviation, which includes private and recreational flights in addition to commercial, fatal accidents have continued to decline over the last quarter century. The average number of annual deadly cases has fallen by more than half since 2000, if terrorism events such as the September 11 hijackings are excluded.
While fatal accidents are becoming less common, high-profile near misses between aircraft have drawn renewed attention — especially amid a shortage of air traffic controllers in the US. Is there a cause for alarm?
In the wake of January’s midair collision, close calls in US airspace have been under increased scrutiny. Air carriers announced a drop in ticket sales in April as customers reported a fear of flying.
One common type of near miss, or close call, is a runway incursion. A runway incursion occurs when a plane, vehicle or person is on the runway and shouldn’t be. For example, if a plane crossed an active runway without clearance while another accelerated for takeoff. A different close call could involve loss of separation between aircraft, such as when two planes come dangerously close to one another in the air. Such situations can be caused by pilots or air traffic control errors, or technical issues.
Near miss on the runway at Midway A private jet taxied across a runway as a Southwest Airlines flight was landing. The Southwest pilot quickly aborted the landing and later returned to the airport safely. The planes were only a few hundred feet from one another.
Midair near-collision near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Delta Air Lines flight 1070 and United Airlines flight 1724 were both approaching Phoenix Sky Harbor airport when the aircraft got within a couple thousand feet of each other. After collision warnings sounded in both cockpits, the pilots maneuvered apart and later landed safely.
Runway incident at LAX An air traffic controller ordered an arriving charter jet to “stop, stop, stop” as it approached a runway where a Delta flight was taking off. The charter jet carried the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team.
Close call at Boston Logan A chartered jet took off as a Jet Blue flight was arriving on an intersecting runway. The planes got to within about 400 feet of one another. After taking off, the chartered jet continued to its destination and the Jet Blue flight landed safely after a “go around.”
Shortly after the DC collision, a Southwest Airlines plane made headlines after it narrowly avoided colliding with a private jet that entered a runway without authorization at Chicago Midway International Airport. The planes came as close as about 2,000 feet to each other before the Southwest plane initiated a go-around, a maneuver in which a pilot aborts landing and climbs back into the air instead of touching down.
Some pilots are speaking up about a shortage of qualified air traffic controllers and a system under stress due to increasing passenger numbers and Americans eager to travel post pandemic.
Despite these challenges, runway incursions fell between 2023 and 2024 and the rate per one million take offs and landings has remained consistent over the last decade, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA reported 1,664 runway incursions in 2024, down from 1,837 in 2023. Serious “Category A” safety events, classified as serious incidents where a collision was narrowly avoided, also fell from 6 to 2.
In 2023, the FAA announced measures to reduce close calls, including technology upgrades and infrastructure investments. The agency also said hundreds of millions of dollars would be awarded to improve runways and on May 8 announced a three-year plan to build a new air-traffic control system amid concerns about recent radar problems at Newark Liberty International airport.
Data on close calls and near misses can be limited. Many of these incidents don’t rise to the level that the NTSB would investigate. While the FAA tracks near mid-air collisions and allows aviation professionals, including pilots, air traffic controllers and maintenance workers, to report safety incidents, it recently acknowledged in March that it faced limitations in its ability to analyze the data.
But even in the wake of high-profile accidents, it’s worth remembering that travel by car is significantly more dangerous than flying. The fatality rate for passenger vehicles is far higher than for commercial aviation, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation. Every year, tens of thousands of people die in car crashes while deadly incidents involving major airlines remain extraordinarily rare.
In many recent years, there have been no deadly commercial crashes in the US: Ten out of the last 25 years recorded no fatalities. That’s a staggering statistic considering close to three million people fly in and out of US airports daily, adding up to hundreds of millions every year, according to the FAA.
For all the unsettling headlines, the numbers still point to a simple truth: Flying remains exceptionally safe — especially compared to the risks Americans take every day traveling on the ground.
How CNN reported this story
CNN reviewed all National Transportation Safety Board-led aviation investigations from January 2000 through March 2025. Investigations that did not involve airplanes were excluded. Investigations of commercial flights were defined as investigations where at least one involved aircraft was operating under Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) part 121, which governs large commercial carriers, as well as some cargo flights (which are regulated under the same operating requirements), or scheduled flights operating under FAR Part 135, which governs flights that do not reach the passenger requirements of Part 121. Severity of events were determined by NTSB aircraft damage assessments and injury counts. NTSB and Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports also informed data on injuries and accidents. Animations were created based on data from Flightradar24 and NTSB reports. Playback is sped up for legibility.
