‘Long Covid’ Effects on the Airline Pilot Supply

By Captain John Bent, FRAeS

Historically, commercial aviation has faced various shocks, but none have affected manpower availability as severely as the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will take many years to adjust the fleet to the new realities and return to stable growth. Even after 10 years, the industry will not have fully regained all that it has lost with the pandemic.

This essay looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on commercial pilot experience and consequent safety, noting the financial devastation¹ faced by airlines and their key employees, and an underlying reduction in pilot proficiency.

UNPRECEDENTED FINANCIAL DEVASTATION

The aviation industry contributes approximately $4.1 trillion to the global GDP, ranking it 20th in size¹. If aviation were a country, it would rank 20th in size by GDP, similar to the Saudi Arabia GDP, and equivalent to 1% of global GDP for 2023.

The pandemic caused unprecedented financial losses in the airline sector, with total losses of $279 billion during the worst years of the pandemic (2020 and 2021). Some airlines had upwards of 200 airliners (values ranging from USD 60m to 350m each) grounded for 18 months or more, bleeding continuous eye-watering costs without passenger revenues.

Against a historical growth rate of a doubling of the airliner fleet every 15-20 years, commercial aviation suffers many sporadic shocks, resulting in the extremely slim average annual return of only 2.5% per year since WW2. But the pandemic, which closed national borders from March 2020², exceeded all the others in the disruption to manpower it caused. The number of operational airliners plummeted from 26,750 in 2019 to just 13,000 at the height of the pandemic³. Although the fleet began to recover in 2022 and 2023, the overall size remained below pre-pandemic projections⁴.

LOSS OF PILOT EXPERIENCE, PROFICIENCY

The pandemic affected a wide range of airline employees, and similar attrition and shortages occurred in all employee classes. However, let’s look at the role of pilots as ‘last line of defence’ in the error chain⁵.

In 2019, there were 333,000 active pilots. The pandemic caused the sharpest air traffic decline in history, and airlines were forced to lay off or furlough nearly half (160,000) of all pilots⁶. By early 2020, 66% of the world’s commercial air transport fleet was grounded, and the huge reduction in flying led to many more pilots being stood down, made redundant or furloughed, leading to a loss of proficiency and recent operational experience⁷.

Initially, as the effects of border closure hit home, airlines had to shed all possible costs. The highest-cost targets in their pilot workforce were the most experienced pilots. Many accepted the offer of early retirement, but airline managements had no easy solution to the loss of experience consequent upon their departure, and urgent commercial needs dominated.

A major protective coating against airline risk is pilot experience, and the experience lost to airlines cannot be recovered in any short time scale. Those pilots remaining in service on international routes had to adjust to a drastically different work environment, facing sharply reduced flight schedules, regular Covid-19 testing and isolating layovers confined in hotel rooms, away from family. By early 2022, 33% of airline pilots remained grounded⁸. Parallel to the pandemic the aviation industry was also experiencing a surge of scheduled retirements, further shrinking the experience pool.

FALSE EXPECTATIONS?

Many airlines seem to have banked on the idea that most grounded pilots would return to their flight decks when needed, but a significant number did not. Those younger pilots grounded without pay still had to support their families and could not afford the cost of maintaining the currency of their licences. Many found consolation in new jobs which did not require them to be away from their loved ones so much, settling into new careers.

The post-pandemic recovery was determinedly embraced by airlines seeking to regain commercial viability as rapidly as possible and serve the huge air travel demand which exploded post-pandemic. This led to a scramble for pilots, often resulting in poaching from other airlines and an increase in pilot workloads close to regulatory limits⁹. One consequence of general shortages of pilots and pilot poaching was to lift working hours for existing employed pilots very close to regulatory limits. There is some evidence that rates of pilot sickness and mental health increased, and airline training systems were strained through increased pilot mobility around the world as they went in search of better opportunities.

GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS

During the pandemic those airlines with strong cargo divisions and domestic routes were at an advantage, but government bailouts were needed around the world to keep their strategic airline assets from going under. Despite this support, by February 2023, 64 airlines had ceased operations¹⁰, approximately 16% of the global fleet with more failures to follow.

But the primary training (ab initio) schools (Approved Training Organisations – ATOs), the main strategic source of new pilots, received no government or other support during the pandemic, and without student revenue approximately 28% went out of business worldwide¹¹. Surviving ATOs faced challenges in maintaining training quality due to resource constraints and the loss of experienced instructors to the recovering airlines. Organic growth of the shrunken corps of surviving ATOs could not meet pre-pandemic, let alone post-pandemic demand. Many ATOs struggled to recover from the loss of experienced instructors to airlines, and training aircraft OEMs quickly filled their order books, leading to 2-year waitlists for new training aircraft.

It was therefore not possible to fully meet the rapidly escalating demand for commercial pilots on exit from the pandemic, and those pilots in service had to endure very high workloads. There had been 2 years of downtime to recognise these inevitabilities and mitigate their effects. Immediate airline supply solutions such as poaching pilots partly camouflaged the severity of the ATOs supply shortfall, but any observer versed in knowledge of training and safety cultures could reasonably assume that more latent pathogens were being sown into future airline operations at the earliest point in the pilot training process, especially when ATO ‘commercial churn rates’ take priority over training quality.

A LEVEL OF UNEASE

There is indeed a level of unease regarding recent airline accidents. Taken together, the challenges outlined above could reduce safety margins, but are we seeing this unfold from incident and accident data?

Annex A lists accidents since 2020, and after removing all events which cannot in any way be attributed to pandemic impacts, there were 43 accidents (marked ‘open’) where doubt may exist pending deeper analysis. The next two tables highlight the potential trend should these accidents be linked to pandemic triggers. The next two tables are compiled from the accident data at Annex A. The term ‘unrelated to pandemic’ against any event suggests that there can be no pandemic induced factors as triggers. The term ‘open’ against any event suggests that pandemic related factors such as experience and training degradation are possible but cannot be confirmed without deeper analysis.

Convincing conclusions cannot be drawn from this limited data set tabled above, but the reduction in overall pilot experience and depletion of primary training capacity worldwide combine to raise significant safety concerns in the aviation sector.

INDUSTRY AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE

The aviation industry is at a critical juncture as it seeks to rebuild its workforce fully to pre-pandemic levels and ensure safety. The loss of experienced pilots and the challenges within the training pipeline were clearly foreseen in 2020 and still pose significant threats that must be addressed.

• THE GOOD. The unprecedented impact of the Covid pandemic tested existing systems to the extreme. From this perspective the fact that the airline industry is back where it is today is a remarkable success story as the likelihood of more massive airline closures and global network destruction was averted.

• THE NOT SO GOOD. In preparing for pandemic recovery, decision makers at regulatory and operator levels have been largely silent, seemingly hoping that the market would correct itself. In such an inevitable unprecedented manning crisis, industry should not have waited to act. Well before the genuine lack of competent pilots refilling the selection and training pipeline presented itself; proactive action should have been taken, recognising the potential safety impacts of reduced experience levels across the airline industry; and the erosion of the high safety levels achieved in recent decades.

Experienced observers could conclude from the startling silence on pilot supply and training from airline CEOs during and beyond the pandemic that (contrary to mission statements), safety is not a number one priority; profitability and getting your year-end bonusses (while getting away without having a serious accident), is. The wisdom of hindsight.

From the comfort of lockdown armchairs, expert commentators in 2020 flagged the obvious challenges ahead. The vital short-term focus for airlines had to be financial survival, but this seemed to stifle the longer vision needed to prepare for the most safe and efficient pandemic recovery possible.

GLOBAL LESSONS TO LEARN

There are lessons to learn at a global level, all of which were identifiable then; and four of which are:

A. Without student revenues or government support during the pandemic, primary pilot training (ab initio) ATO capacity decayed and shrunk. Against the pent-up recovery demand (up to 40,000 pilots per year to catch up), pilot poaching, ex-military, GA pilots and ATO flight instructors with minimum experience were never going to help. These sources would dry up, leaving cadet airline entry training as the dominant source of pilots.

B. Under the border closure and Covid testing constraints of the pandemic it could not be assumed that all grounded pilots would return to service, and the fact that this did not happen should not have been a surprise.

C. The loss of experience on airliner flight decks could not be mitigated by tired legacy regulation to minimum regulatory standards which often lag operational needs in normal times. Obvious risks should have been countered afresh by regulators and operators alike.

D. The outsourcing of ab initio training like catering; a common practice of many airlines, should be reviewed in the light of the future safety, and ATOs should be brought under more direct control of their customer airlines so that training objectives align with operational need.

ACTIONS NOT TAKEN

During the pandemic, airlines with little or no cash flow could not rebuild their pilot supply and training pipelines for pandemic exit, and this was not immediately critical to their survival. They may also have been blinkered by traditional thinking that primary pilot training was non-core business, and that the market would correct itself.

However, regulators, funded by governments, continued to have responsibility for safety oversight. An extreme pandemic did not remove or limit this responsibility, rather it suggested that serious and decisive action should have been taken. Had ICAO and State regulators demanded corrective action during the downturn, governments could have stepped in to support ATOs as well as airlines, costing a tiny incremental funding increase¹² to ensure the maintenance of pre-pandemic safety standards.

ACTIONS NEEDED NOW

The industry still faces longer-term safety threats from the pandemic. Pilot supply and primary training need urgent attention as any significant decrease in airline safety would impact passenger confidence and operator bottom lines.

Regulators need to promote and drive the expansion of primary pilot training capacity towards new levels of relevance and quality using all regulatory levers available. Regulators from ICAO down must recognise the tectonic shift in manning supply and quality caused by the Covid pandemic as a lingering threat to future safety, and that this could repeat in the future. This shift is an exponential ‘light speed’ level of AI development, and regulation urgently needs to become more agile and forward focussed.

Airlines not engaged in this process already need to conduct a determined review and reset of their primary pilot training pipeline to ensure pilots entering will shore up their own future safety. Airlines should re-think their outsourcing primary pilot training policies in relation to safety outcomes¹³, and take direct strategic control of supply and training rather than scratching around for pilots with the bare minimum of credentials, trained to the bare minimum of regulatory standards¹⁴. Sound pilot training standards are a reasonable expectation of the public and should be a key part of airline business plans and safety culture.

1. Oliver Wyman
2. The impact of Covid-19 on aviation was devastating, as a few representative numbers for the year 2020 indicate (IATA, 2020): The number of air passengers reduced by 60.2% compared to 2019, leading to a system-wide load factor of 65.1%.
3. Aviation website and podcast AllPlane.tv
4. Statista Research Department, Apr 16, 2024
5. Professor James Reason, CBE, 1938-2025. James Reason, the originator of the Swiss cheese theory of accident causation.
6. Goose Recruitment and FlightGlobal.
7. Griffith Research Online hZps://research-repository.griffith.edu.au
8. Goose Recruitment and FlightGlobal.
9. The FAA projected a shortfall of 5,000-7,000 pilots annually due to insufficient recruitment to offset retirements and expansion needs.
10. The impact of COVID-19 on aviation was devastating, as a few representative numbers for the year 2020 indicate (IATA, 2020): The number of air passengers reduced by 60.2% compared to 2019, leading to a system-wide load factor of 65.1%.
11. Oct 2023 Analysis available on request.
12. For context equivalent to roughly the cost of one wide-body airliner engine for a batch of quality ATOs.
13. Learnt first is often retained longest. The insertion of incorrect knowledge in primary training can become a latent pathogen which strikes years later (AF447 may be an example).
14. Sadly it is well understood that unlike the military, who have stringent selection and training failure rates of up to 50%, many civil ATOs operate on thin margins and usually accept most applicants regardless of genuine suitability, or the time taken to train them.

Annex A – Air Carrier Accidents from 2020 – 2025

SOURCE:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_commercial_aircraft

From the accident data in Annex A, the term ‘unrelated to pandemic’ against any event suggests that there can be no pandemic-induced factors as triggers. The term ‘open’ against any event suggests that pandemic-related factors such as experience and training degradation are possible but cannot be confirmed without deeper analysis.

2020 (first year of pandemic impact)

January 8 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a Boeing 737-800 bound for Kyiv, Ukraine, crashed shortly after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, after being hit by two surface-to-air missiles launched by Iranian military forces; all 176 crew and passengers on board were killed. (Unrelated to pandemic) 176

January 14 – Delta Air Lines Flight 89, a Boeing 777-200ER, dumped fuel over several schools and neighbourhoods while returning to Los Angeles International Airport due to a compressor stall, injuring 56. (Open)

January 27 – Caspian Airlines Flight 6936, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, flying a domestic flight from Tehran, Iran, overran the runway on landing at Mahshahr Airport, Iran; the aircraft came to a stop on a road, injuring 2 of the 144 passengers and crew on board. (Open)

February 5 – Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193, a Boeing 737-800 operating a domestic flight between İzmir and Istanbul in Turkey, skidded off the runway and dropped down an embankment on landing at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport; three of the 183 people on board were killed. (Open) 183

May 4 – An East African Express Airways Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia crashed after being allegedly fired upon by Ethiopian ground forces during a charter cargo flight carrying pandemic relief supplies to Berdale, Somalia; all four passengers and two crew were killed. (Unrelated to pandemic) 6

May 22 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303, an Airbus A320, crashed in a residential neighbourhood in Karachi minutes before a second attempted landing at Jinnah International Airport. 2 passengers survived among the 99 on board. One victim on the ground later died from her injuries. (Open) 1

August 7 – Air India Express Flight 1344, a Boeing 737-800 operating an international repatriation flight, crashed on landing at Kozhikode International Airport, skidding off the runway and plunging into a gorge; 21 occupants were killed, including both pilots. (Open) 21

August 22 – A South West Aviation Antonov An-26 crashed in a residential area after taking off for a charter cargo flight from Juba International Airport, South Sudan, killing eight of nine people on board. (Open) 8

November 13 – Volga-Dnepr Airlines Flight 4066, an An-124 operating a cargo flight from Novosibirsk, Russia to Vienna, Austria, suffered an uncontained engine failure on take-off and overran the runway upon returning to Novosibirsk. All 14 crew members survived the incident. (Open)

2021

January 9 – Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, a Boeing 737-500 operating a domestic flight to Pontianak, Indonesia, crashed shortly after take-off from Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. All 62 passengers and crew were killed in the crash. (Open) 62

February 20 – Longtail Aviation Flight 5504, a Boeing 747-400BCF operating a cargo flight from Maastricht, Netherlands to New York, United States suffered engine failure shortly after take-off. The aircraft safely diverted to Liege, Belgium but two people on the ground were injured by falling debris. (Unrelated to pandemic)

February 20 – United Airlines Flight 328, a Boeing 777-200 flying from Denver to Honolulu suffered a contained engine failure after take-off, scattering debris over residential neighbourhoods below. The pilots used the remaining engine to safely land in Denver. None of the 241 passengers and crew were injured, nor was anyone injured on the ground from debris. (Unrelated to pandemic)

March 2 – A South Sudan Supreme Airlines Let L-410 Turbolet crashed whilst operating a domestic flight from Pieri to Yuai, South Sudan. All eight passengers and two crew members were killed. (Open) 10

May 12 – Key Lime Air Flight 970, a Swearingen Metroliner on a chartered cargo flight from Salida, Colorado, collided with a Cirrus SR22 on approach to Centennial Airport, Colorado. The Cirrus crash-landed in a nearby field whilst the Swearingen Metroliner made an emergency landing. All three occupants on both aircraft survived. (Open)

May 23 – Ryanair Flight 4978, a Boeing 737-800 operating an international scheduled passenger flight from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, was forced to land at Minsk, Belarus after a false bomb alarm, escorted by a Belarusian Air Force MiG-29. Activist Roman Protasevich, who was on board the aircraft, was arrested. (Unrelated to pandemic)

July 2 – Transair Flight 810, a Boeing 737-200C operating a domestic cargo flight in Hawaii between Honolulu, Oahu and the neighbouring island of Maui, suffered an engine failure shortly after take-off and ditched in the sea. Both pilots survived with injuries. (Open)

July 6 – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise Flight 251, an Antonov An-26 operating a domestic flight from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Palana, Russia, crashed while approach. All 22 passengers and 6 crew were killed. (Open) 28

July 16 – Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42, an Antonov An-28 operating a domestic flight from Kedrovy to Tomsk, Russia, crash landed after take-off, injuring 11 of the 18 passengers and crew on board. (Open)

September 12 – Siberian Light Aviation Flight 51, a Let L-410 operating a domestic flight from Irkutsk to Kazachinskoye, Russia, crashed in a forest short of the runway while attempting to land in heavy fog; 4 of the 16 occupants were killed with the 12 survivors being seriously injured. (Open) 16

October 19 – A corporate McDonnell Douglas MD-87 crashed on take-off from Houston Executive Airport, Houston, Texas. All 21 people on board survived. (Open)

November 3 – Grodno Aviakompania Flight 1252, an Antonov An-12, crashed whilst attempting to land at Irkutsk International Airport, Russia whilst operating a cargo flight. All nine aboard were killed. (Open) 9

2022

March 21 – China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735, a Boeing 737-89P operating a domestic flight from Kunming to Guangzhou, China, crashed in a mountainous region in Guangxi after entering a near vertical nosedive, killing all 132 on board. (Open) 132

April 7 – DHL de Guatemala Flight 7216, a Boeing 757-27A PCF, overran the runway and broke apart during an emergency landing at Juan Santamaría International Airport, Costa Rica, due to hydraulic problems. There were no serious injuries. (Open)

May 12 – Tibet Airlines Flight 9833, an Airbus A319-100, aborted a take-off from Chongqing and veered off the runway. A fire erupted, but all 122 occupants evacuated safely. (Open)

May 29 – Tara Air Flight 197, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter operating a flight from Pokhara to Jomsom, Nepal, crashed in poor weather conditions, killing all 22 on board. (Open)

July 16 – Meridian Flight 3032, an Antonov An-12 carrying weapons and ammunition cargo from Niš, Serbia to Dhaka, Bangladesh, crashed near Kavala in Greece, killing all eight on board. (Open) 8

September 4 – A DHC-3 Turbine Otter crashed into Mutiny Bay killing all 10 on board. The flight was carrying tourists from Friday Harbor Seaplane Base to Renton Municipal Airport, Washington. (Open) 10

October 23 – Korean Air Flight 631, an Airbus A330-300 flying from Seoul, experienced a runway excursion while landing at Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines in bad weather and with a hydraulic failure following a previous aborted landing. The airplane collided with the ILS localizer antenna and runway approach lights at the end of the runway, but none of the 173 passengers and crew were injured. (Open)

November 6 – Precision Air Flight 494, an ATR 42-500 flying a domestic flight from Dar es Salaam, crashed into Lake Victoria while attempting to land at Bukoba Airport, Tanzania. Of the 43 people on board, 19 were killed. (Open) 19

November 18 – LATAM Perú Flight 2213, an Airbus A320neo operated by LATAM Chile taking off from Jorge Chávez International Airport, Peru, collided with a fire engine crossing the runway, killing three firefighters. All 102 passengers and 6 crew aboard escaped unharmed. This was the first hull loss of an A320neo. (Unrelated to pandemic)

2023

January 15 – Yeti Airlines Flight 691, an ATR 72-500 operating a domestic flight from Tribhuvan International Airport to Pokhara International Airport, crashed into the gorge of the Seti Gandaki River in Pokhara, Nepal. All 72 people aboard were killed. The crash is the deadliest involving the ATR 72. (Open) 72

September 12 – Ural Airlines Flight 1383, an Airbus A320 operating a flight from Sochi to Omsk in Russia, made an emergency landing in a corn field after reporting hydraulic issues. All 165 people on board survived without injuries. (Open)

September 16 – A Manaus Aerotaxi Embraer Bandeirante crashed into an embankment on approach to Barcelos Airport, Brazil, while performing a go-around, killing all 14 occupants on board. (Open) 14

October 22 – Alaska Airlines Flight 2059, an Embraer 175 operated by Horizon Air from Everett to San Francisco, diverted to Portland after an off-duty pilot attempted to shut off both engines with the fire handles. The off-duty pilot was subdued and arrested after landing. There were no injuries. (Unrelated to pandemic)

2024

January 2 – In the 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision, Japan Airlines Flight 516, an Airbus A350 operating from New Chitose Airport to Haneda Airport, collided with a Japan Coast Guard De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft while landing. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight were evacuated safely, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft were killed. Both aircraft were destroyed. This was the first hull loss of an Airbus A350. The destroyed DHC-8 was set to provide support in the response to the Noto earthquake the day prior. (Unrelated to pandemic) 5

January 5 – Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 departing out of Portland International Airport experienced uncontrolled decompression when a plug covering an unused exit door blew out. The aircraft made a safe return to Portland with all 177 people onboard surviving. Nobody was seated next to the blown outdoor plug, and three injuries were reported on board. (Unrelated to pandemic)

January 23 – Northwestern Air Flight 738, a British Aerospace Jetstream, crashed shortly after take-off while carrying mine workers from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, to the Diavik Diamond Mine in Northwest Territories, Canada, killing six of the seven passengers and crew. (Open) 6

February 18 – Air Serbia Flight 324, an Embraer 195 operated by Marathon Airlines, struck landing lights on take-off at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The aircraft flew for another hour and made an emergency landing at the same airport with a large hole in the fuselage. All 111 occupants survived unharmed. (Open)

March 5 – Safarilink Aviation Flight 053, a de Havilland Canada Dash 8, collided with a Cessna 172 over Nairobi National Park in Kenya shortly after take-off from Wilson Airport with 44 passengers and crew. The Cessna 172 crashed, killing both occupants, while the Dash 8 safely returned to Wilson Airport. Unrelated to pandemic) 2

March 11 – LATAM Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 787-9 flying from Sydney, Australia, to Santiago, Chile, with a stopover in Auckland, New Zealand, suffered an in-flight upset, on the first leg of the flight, injuring 50 people. The flight landed safely at Auckland Airport. (Unrelated to pandemic)

April 23 – An Alaska Air Fuel Douglas C-54D, on a cargo flight to Kobuk, crashed shortly after take-off from Fairbanks due to an engine failure. Both crew members on board were killed. (Open) 2

May 21 – Singapore Airlines Flight 321, a Boeing 777-300ER flying from London to Singapore, encountered severe turbulence, resulting in the death of 1 passenger, and injuring another 104 occupants. As a result of the accident, the flight was diverted to Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand. (Open) 1

July 24 – A Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200ER crashed shortly after taking off from Kathmandu Tribhuvan Airport, whilst enroute to Pokhara International Airport, killing 18 of the 19 occupants on board. (Open) 18

August 9 – Voepass Flight 2283, an ATR-72-500 flying from Cascavel Airport to Guarulhos International Airport, São Paulo, Brazil, entered a flat spin and crashed in Vinhedo, São Paulo. All 62 occupants on board died. (Open) 62

August 22 – Thai Flying Service Flight 209, a Cessna 208 Grand Caravan flying from Bangkok to Ko Mai Si, Thailand, crashed in a mangrove swamp shortly after taking off from Suvarnabhumi Airport, killing all nine people on board. (Open) 9

August 31 – A Vityaz-Aero Mil Mi-8T crashed near the Vachkazhets volcano, in Kamchatka Krai, Russia, in poor weather conditions. All 22 occupants on board were killed. (Open) 22

November 9 – Total Linhas Aéreas Flight 5682, a Boeing 737-4Q8 (SF), suffered an in-flight fire in the cargo hold while enroute from Vitória to Guarulhos, Brazil. The aircraft performed an emergency landing in Guarulhos. Both crew members onboard survived but the aircraft was destroyed by the fire. (Unrelated to pandemic)

November 25 – Swiftair Flight 5960, a Boeing 737-400SF operating on behalf of DHL, crashed near a two story house on approach to Vilnius, Lithuania, killing one of the four crew members on board. (Open) 1

December 23 – Swiss International Air Lines Flight 1885, an Airbus A220-300 operating from Bucharest to Zurich, made an emergency landing at Graz Airport due to an engine failure and smoke in the cabin. The aircraft was evacuated using the emergency slides, and 17 passengers and 5 crew members were hospitalized. A flight attendant died in the hospital one week later. (Unrelated to pandemic) 1

December 25 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer 190AR, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan during an emergency landing after likely being damaged by a Russian surface-to-air missile. Out of the 67 occupants onboard, 38 people were killed. (Unrelated to pandemic) 38

December 29 – Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800, crashed into an embankment and exploded while attempting to land at Muan International Airport, South Korea. Out of the 181 occupants onboard, 179 were killed. The accident is the deadliest involving the Boeing 737 Next Generation and the deadliest aviation accident to occur on South Korean soil. (Open) 179

2025

January 28 – Air Busan Flight 391, an Airbus A321-200 operating from Busan to Hong Kong, caught fire shortly before take-off at Gimhae International Airport. All 176 people onboard survived, with only 7 injuries. (Unrelated to pandemic)

January 29 – A Light Air Services Beechcraft 1900, that was carrying oil workers, crashed shortly after take off from GPOC Unity Airstrip in South Sudan. Out of the 21 occupants onboard, only 1 occupant survived with injuries. (Open) 20

January 29 – In the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision, American Eagle Flight 5342, a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines, collided with a US Army Sikorsky UH-60L over the Potomac River, killing all 64 people onboard the CRJ700 and all 3 aboard the UH-60L. (Open) 67

February 6 – Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan flying from Unalakleet to Nome, Alaska, disappeared over the Norton Sound, and the crash site was located the following day. All 10 people on board were killed. (Open) 10

February 17 – Delta Connection Flight 4819, a Bombardier CRJ900, crashed upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. It flipped upside down, but all 76 passengers and 4 crew aboard survived the crash, with 21 injured. (Open)

March 17 – Aerolínea Lanhsa Flight 018, a British Aerospace Jetstream 32, crashed into the sea after overshooting the runway on take-off from Roatán Airport. 13 of the 18 people onboard were killed. (Open) 13

April 17 – Tropic Air Flight 711, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX, was hijacked while flying from Corozal to San Pedro. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Belize City due to low fuel. On landing, the hijacker injured 3 of the 15 other occupants and was then shot dead by an armed passenger. (Unrelated to pandemic) 1

May 3 – An IBM Airlines Boeing 737-290 Advanced was shot down near Nyala, Sudan, after a flight from South Sudan. On board there were at least 20 people, which were all killed. (Unrelated to pandemic) 20

June 12 – Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 operating a flight from Ahmedabad Airport to London Gatwick Airport, crashed into a nearby medical college building within a minute after take-off, killing 241 out of 242 people on board and at least 39 people on the ground. This is the first hull loss and the first fatal accident involving the Boeing 787. (Open)