In 2025, 116 people were killed in air accidents in the EU involving an EU-registered aircraft, 25 more than in 2024 (91). Since 2021, in total 638 people were killed in aviation accidents across the EU territory involving EU-registered aircraft.
This information comes from data on air safety published by Eurostat. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on air safety statistics in the EU.
Most of the deaths occurred in aviation accidents by non-commercial operations (109 accidents or 94.0%). This includes corporate and private aviation, demonstration, flight training/instructional and relocations. 4 deaths were related to accidents in commercial air transport (3.4%), while 3 deaths (2.6%) were related to accidents during specialised operations (e.g., crop spraying in agriculture, aerial advertisement, or photography operations).
Accidents involving aeroplanes were responsible for most deaths (79), followed by helicopters and sailplanes (18 deaths each) and balloons (1). No fatal accidents involved unmanned aircraft.
Source dataset: tran_sf_aviavi
In 2025, 143 people were injured in air accidents involving EU-registered aircraft, a decrease from 215 in 2024. Most injuries (93) were the result of aeroplane accidents. Next were balloon accidents (19 injuries), sailplane accidents (17), accidents involving helicopters (12) and unmanned aircraft (2). Out of all injuries, 32 happened on commercial flights.
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on air safety statistics in the EU
- Thematic section on transport
- Database on transport
- Webinar on transport statistics
Methodological note
The data in this article relate only to accidents that occurred within the EU involving EU-registered aircraft.