Types of Airliner Accidents in 2023
Globally, there were a total 94 airliner accidents in 2023 which fell into 15 categories, asdefined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).Last year was one of the safest years on record for commercial airline operations with no fatal jet engine accidents. There were, however, 7 fatal accidents involving turboprop or piston-enginepassenger airplanes, totaling 107 fatalities. Most accidents were not fatal, but did result in serious injury or damage to the aircraft. Not all accidents happened in the air—many occurred on the ground—and 12.8% are of unknown cause at this time, though with further investigation may be narrowed down into categories. Turbulence during flights is increasing as more warm air is now in the upper atmosphere, however there were no fatal accidents due to turbulence in 2023. The totality of fatal crashes fell into three categories: loss of control in flight, runway excursion (veering off or over-running the runway) and unknown.
This data covers scheduled and non-scheduled commercial passenger aircraft as well as cargo flights. It does not include business or corporate jets.
Dataset
ICAO Accident Category | 2023 Percentage | Number of accidents | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turbulence | 22.34 | 21 | |||||||||||||
Abnormal Runway Contact | 15.96 | 15 | |||||||||||||
Ground Collision | 14.89 | 14 | |||||||||||||
Unknown | 12.77 | 12 | |||||||||||||
Systems/Component Failure (non-Powerplant) | 8.51 | 8 | |||||||||||||
Runway Excursion | 5.32 | 5 | |||||||||||||
Loss of Control in Flight | 3.19 | 3 | |||||||||||||
Ramp (Ground Handling) | 3.19 | 3 | |||||||||||||
Systems/Component Failure (Powerplant) | 3.19 | 3 | |||||||||||||
Wind Shear/Thunderstorm | 3.19 | 3 | |||||||||||||
Controlled Flight into Terrain | 2.13 | 2 | |||||||||||||
Evacuation Event | 2.13 | 2 | |||||||||||||
Bird Strike | 1.06 | 1 | |||||||||||||
Cabin Safety Event | 1.06 | 1 | |||||||||||||
Collision with Obstacle during Takeoff | 1.06 | 1 | |||||||||||||
TOTAL | 100 | 94 |
Data sources
The Aviation Safety Network free Basic version of the Global Accident Dashboard data (page 5) was used. It is publicly available and also available at https://aviation-safety.net/