Eighteen people were injured at Toronto Pearson Airport in Canada on Monday when a Delta Air Lines jet from Minneapolis crashed and overturned while landing.
It was the latest such aviation incident since the start of the year.
The Toronto airport’s chief executive said all 80 passengers and crew had survived.
“We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” said Deborah Flint of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
One child and two adults were critically injured in the crash, according to emergency services.
Striking footage shared on social media showed the Delta Air Lines jet upside down with firefighters hosing the outside of the plane.
In one clip, a passenger shared footage of someone being helped from the crashed plane on a snow-covered tarmac. “We’re in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside down,” they explained through rasped breaths.
Aviation disasters seem to be rising. But what crashes have happened in 2025 and what were the reasons for them?
Here is everything we know, including whether air travel has become more dangerous.
How many plane crashes have there been in 2025?
We are only nearly two months into the year, yet Monday’s crash in Canada marks the fourth serious aviation accident in North America.
As well as the Toronto crash, at least three other major crashes have been reported so far in 2025:
Washington DC
A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the US capital on January 29, killing 67 people.
It was the deadliest plane crash in the US since November 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Queens, New York, shortly after take-off from John F Kennedy International Airport. The accident killed 260 people on board and five on the ground.
Philadelphia
Just two days after the Washington tragedy, another aviation disaster happened when a medical transport plane crashed into Philadelphia homes on January 31.
Six people on board and another person on the ground were killed when the plane smashed into the ground and burst into flames.
Read also: Passengers in Toronto recount moments the plane crashed
Alaska
In February, 10 people were killed — all the people on the flight — when a small commuter jet crashed on sea ice in Alaska.
The Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, operated by regional carrier Bering Air, was en route from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday when it disappeared from radar.
The plane, carrying nine passengers and a pilot, went down in Norton Sound, approximately 34 miles south-east of Nome, a coastal city in western Alaska.
The remains of all onboard were found the next day. It was one of the deadliest plane crashes in the state in 25 years.
Other incidents
Several smaller aviation incidents have also been reported.
A United flight from Chicago was forced to return to O’Hare Airport for an unexpected issue in the cockpit on February 1. The plane’s wing struck an aircraft tug at the airport, critically injuring the vehicle’s driver, authorities said.
A Japan Airlines plane also clipped a parked Delta plane while taxiing at the Seattle airport on February 5. A United Airlines plane caught fire during take-off at Houston airport after an engine problem on February 2.
What caused the crashes?
There is no official explanation for the major crashes that resulted in fatalities.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are conducting in-depth investigations.
However, it may take more than a year before the official reports are released.
What have people in America said?
Reports indicate that the newly formed Donald Trump administration began dismissing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees following the Washington incident in January.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) said it was “analysing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system, and our members.”
The association has warned of a shortfall in air traffic controllers, with federal officials raising concerns for years about an overburdened and understaffed system.
Read also: Scores feared dead in Washington after jet collides with helicopter, crashes into river
Is there evidence to show that flying is becoming more dangerous?
The recent spate of aviation incidents and near misses has understandably raised concerns about flight safety. However, experts reassure that there is no cause for alarm regarding the future of air travel.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News in February that air travel is “way safer than travelling in a car and train. This is the safest mode of transportation”.
The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on planes are too rare to calculate the odds.
Research also indicates that the number of accidents does not necessarily increase each year.
A quick scan of the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives data for this issue suggests we are seeing a decline in the deaths per year across a broader picture.
The highest number of aviation deaths in one year on record, since the understandably high crash rate of the Forties (Second World War) is 1972, when 3,346 died, the data states. But this was not an anomaly, with the average number of deaths per year only regularly falling below 2,000 in the 1990s.
The deadliest plane crash in history occurred on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport in Spain. The crash killed 583 people.
Since then, the number of fatalities has steadily declined, and by the 2010s, it became rare for the death toll to exceed 1,000.
In 2024, the number of aviation deaths stood at 416, higher than the 229 in 2023 but consistent with the averages of previous years: 578 in 2019, 463 in 2020, 414 in 2021, and 357 in 2022.
The last time fatalities surpassed 1,000 was in 2018 when two Airbus planes crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
In 2023, 35.3 million scheduled commercial flights took place globally, according to the Air Transport Action Group. This makes air travel statistically safer than both rail and road transport.
For comparison, the UK Government reported in 2023 that more than 1,500 people died on the roads every year in the UK.
Is flying becoming more perilous due to climate change?
Aviation has long been considered a significant contributor to climate change. However, according to a National Geographic article in July 2024, worsening weather is increasingly affecting flights as well.
The study highlighted that turbulence, caused by stronger winds, a faster jet stream, and more frequent storms, is making air travel bumpier. There are also growing reports of flooded runways and rising surface temperatures, which are making it more difficult for planes to take off.
That said, these changes have not yet had a significant impact on the number of accidents or fatalities.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
