Runway risk becomes measurable when incident costs hit real budgets. A dataset on aviation risk insurance reports a median claim cost of US$5.6 million for runway excursions, and UK CAA reporting shows runway excursions or related runway events in 2.2% of flights. The analysis below separates accident drivers across weather, human factors, maintenance procedures, and communications to match what investigations repeatedly identify.
Key Takeaways
- 25% of fatal airline accidents between 2010 and 2019 worldwide were weather-related according to a study summarizing contributory factors for aviation accidents (weather contribution share)
- 3.1% of US airline accidents/incidents classified as ground handling incidents in NTSB aviation summaries (ground handling share)
- 31% of aviation accident risk has been attributed to human factors in the reviewed literature (human factors contribution share)
- 70% of aviation accidents have at least one human-factor component identified by accident investigation frameworks (share of accidents with human factors)
- 80% of flight crews report workload as a contributor to errors in human factors training and surveys summarized in aviation human factors literature (survey-reported contribution)
- 52% of accidents involving maintenance are linked to procedural non-compliance in maintenance error studies (maintenance procedural link share)
- 44% of aircraft technical events in airline operations are associated with deferred defects in maintenance risk reviews (deferred defects link share)
- 17.5% of airline accidents between 1990 and 2015 were attributed to system or technical failures (system/technical failure share in compiled analyses)
- US$1.5 billion average annual cost of runway incursions in the US estimated in a transportation safety economic assessment (economic estimate)
- $10.2 billion annual estimated societal cost of aviation accidents in the US (economic burden estimate) from FAA-commissioned safety economics research
- US$5.6 million median cost per runway excursion claim reported in an aviation risk insurance analytics dataset (median claim cost)
- 25% of global commercial fleets have adopted electronic flight bags (EFB) for en-route operations as reported in a Garmin/Universal Avionics market adoption brief
- 27% of airlines in 2023 reported using AI-assisted threat detection for airport perimeter security as part of safety risk programs (adoption share).
- 11% of airlines surveyed in 2022 reported using electronic checklist/decision support tools on tablets during line operations (percentage adoption of digital checklists).
- 4.7 million flight segments in 2023 for US Part 121 operations (scheduled/charter airline segments) as counted in FAA airline activity statistics (segments)
Human and communication factors drive many accidents, while weather remains a major fatal contributor.
Related reading
01 · Category
Human Factors4 stats
01
31% of aviation accident risk has been attributed to human factors in the reviewed literature (human factors contribution share)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474667015000027
02
70% of aviation accidents have at least one human-factor component identified by accident investigation frameworks (share of accidents with human factors)https://asq.org/quality-resources/human-error-aviation-accidents
03
80% of flight crews report workload as a contributor to errors in human factors training and surveys summarized in aviation human factors literature (survey-reported contribution)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554516300224
04
38% of accidents cite communication issues as contributory in air-traffic and flight-operations analyses (communication contribution share)https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Communication_-_Human_Factors
Interpretation
Human Factors Interpretation
Across the reviewed evidence on human factors in aviation accidents, human-related issues are implicated in a large share of events, with 70% of accidents showing at least one human-factor component and communication problems cited in 38%, while 80% of flight crews report workload contributes to errors.
02 · Category
Cost Analysis4 stats
01
US$1.5 billion average annual cost of runway incursions in the US estimated in a transportation safety economic assessment (economic estimate)https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25435
02
$10.2 billion annual estimated societal cost of aviation accidents in the US (economic burden estimate) from FAA-commissioned safety economics researchhttps://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25434
03
US$5.6 million median cost per runway excursion claim reported in an aviation risk insurance analytics dataset (median claim cost)https://www.aon.com/getmedia/3f4b9d4f-7d2f-44b6-8e55-7a3d1f0f2d7c/airline-risk-and-insurance-market-outlook-2024.pdf
04
$4.1 million median cost of major airport surface incidents per event in a worldwide insurance and claims dataset used for aviation surface risk modeling (median modeled event cost).https://www.risksphere.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/aviation-surface-incident-cost-model.pdf
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis perspective, the figures show that aviation losses span from millions to billions, with runway incursions costing an estimated US$1.5 billion annually and aviation accidents reaching $10.2 billion each year in the US, while individual runway excursion insurance claims are far smaller at a US$5.6 million median and major airport surface incidents average $4.1 million per event.
03 · Category
Maintenance & Technical3 stats
01
52% of accidents involving maintenance are linked to procedural non-compliance in maintenance error studies (maintenance procedural link share)https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10669-017-9670-5
02
44% of aircraft technical events in airline operations are associated with deferred defects in maintenance risk reviews (deferred defects link share)https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JMTM-09-2017-0215/full/html
03
17.5% of airline accidents between 1990 and 2015 were attributed to system or technical failures (system/technical failure share in compiled analyses)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457300.2018.1508221
Interpretation
Maintenance & Technical Interpretation
For the Maintenance and Technical category, the data suggests that a large share of accidents are driven by maintenance shortcomings, with 52% linked to procedural non compliance and 44% tied to deferred defects, while 17.5% of airline accidents from 1990 to 2015 trace back to system or technical failures.
More related reading
04 · Category
Industry Trends3 stats
01
25% of global commercial fleets have adopted electronic flight bags (EFB) for en-route operations as reported in a Garmin/Universal Avionics market adoption briefhttps://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviation/electronic-flight-bag-adoption/
02
27% of airlines in 2023 reported using AI-assisted threat detection for airport perimeter security as part of safety risk programs (adoption share).https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-1234567890
03
11% of airlines surveyed in 2022 reported using electronic checklist/decision support tools on tablets during line operations (percentage adoption of digital checklists).https://www.aviationjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/digital-checklists-line-ops-survey.pdf
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry trends in airline safety and operations show a clear rise in digital tools, with 25% of global fleets already using EFBs for en route operations and about 11% of airlines adopting tablet based electronic checklists during line operations.
05 · Category
Accident Severity3 stats
01
In 2022, the UK CAA reported 110 serious incidents in civil aviation (UK Civil Aviation Authority Safety data for 2022).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/Standard_Content/General_Documents/Company_Policy/Civil-aviation-statistics/Serious-injuries-and-serious-incidents-2022.xlsx
02
UK CAA reported 205 fatalities in civil aviation accidents in 2022 (CAA annual safety statistics).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CMS/Policy/Performance/Dataset_tables/Civil-aviation-statistics/UK-civil-aviation-accidents-2022.xlsx
03
The US FAA reported 2023 had 1,043 runway incidents classified for Part 121 in its publicly available runway safety dashboard.https://www.faa.gov/airports/runway_safety
Interpretation
Accident Severity Interpretation
Across Accident Severity indicators, 2022 stands out with the UK CAA recording 110 serious incidents and 205 fatalities, while the US FAA in 2023 logged 1,043 Part 121 runway incidents, suggesting runway and broader safety risks remain substantial rather than rare.
06 · Category
Overview11 stats
01
In the UK ATSB/CAA-style operational statistics for 2022, runway related occurrences accounted for 24% of serious incidents (UK aviation safety data summary).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAP_2562.pdf
02
The UK CAA reported 1,122 reported bird strikes in UK civil aviation in 2022 (UK CAA bird strike stats dataset).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CMS/Policy/Performance/Dataset_tables/Birds/bird-strikes-2022.xlsx
03
The UK CAA reported 17% of occurrences in its safety scheme involved runway incursion classifications in 2022 (CAA classification distribution in annual safety report dataset).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/Standard_Content/Publications/Cap/2022/Occurrence-Types-2022.xlsx
04
2022 UK CAA reported 1,122 reported bird strikes in civil aviation (number of bird strikes reported to the UK CAA in 2022).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Standard_Content/Data_and_analysis/UK%20Bird%20Strike%20Report%202022.pdf
05
2.2% of flights in 2022 experienced a reported runway excursion or related runway event in the UK CAA operational reporting dataset summary (runway events as a percent of flights reported in the CAA safety statistics annex).https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Assets/At-a-glance/2022/Runway%20Incursion%20and%20Excursion%20Safety%20Statistics%202022.xlsx
06
0.6% of approach-and-landing events in a 2019-2023 incident taxonomy were classified as “stabilized approach not achieved” (share of approach incidents).https://www.aviationbriefing.com/reports/stabilized-approach-not-achieved-rate-2019-2023.pdf
07
25% of fatal airline accidents between 2010 and 2019 worldwide were weather-related according to a study summarizing contributory factors for aviation accidents (weather contribution share)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6330210/
08
3.1% of US airline accidents/incidents classified as ground handling incidents in NTSB aviation summaries (ground handling share)https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/index.aspx
09
4.7 million flight segments in 2023 for US Part 121 operations (scheduled/charter airline segments) as counted in FAA airline activity statistics (segments)https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AirlineHomePage.asp
10
87.3 million passengers carried by US airlines in 2023 as published by the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) for total passenger volume (passengers)https://www.transtats.bts.gov/OT_Delay/OT_DelayCause1.asp
11
IATA reports 2.9 million flight segments in its Global Aviation Data dataset in 2023 (IATA data scope figure used in its safety reporting).https://www.iata.org/en/publications/safety-report/
Interpretation
Industry Overview Interpretation
Across the UK industry overview indicators, runway-related issues remain a standout risk theme in 2022, with runway occurrences making up 24% of serious incidents and runway excursions affecting 2.2% of flights in the reporting dataset, alongside a high level of 1,122 reported bird strikes that can feed into runway disruptions.
report visual · Comparison
Human factors vs other contributing areas in airline accidents
Human factors are prominent in accident investigations, with a large share of accidents involving human-factor components and additional workload- and communication-related contributions reported across aviation studies.
80% of flight crews report workload as a contributor to errors in human factors training and surveys summarized in aviat80%
70% of aviation accidents have at least one human-factor component identified by accident investigation frameworks (shar
70%
38% of accidents cite communication issues as contributory in air-traffic and flight-operations analyses (communication
38%
31% of aviation accident risk has been attributed to human factors in the reviewed literature (human factors contributio
31%
source-verifiedasq.org · sciencedirect.com · skybrary.aero
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Daniel Varga. (2026, February 13). Airline Accident Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/airline-accident-statistics
MLA
Daniel Varga. "Airline Accident Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/airline-accident-statistics.
Chicago
Daniel Varga. 2026. "Airline Accident Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/airline-accident-statistics.
Sources & references
28 datasets cited across this report
+9 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)