Wole Shadare 
The crash of Delta Air Lines’s flight on the runway of Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport in which 18 people were injured has raised growing concerns as aviation incidents seem to rise in 2025.
Whether safety in commercial aviation is degrading is a possibility that needs to be considered.
Public perception has been skewed by recent disasters, such as the Delta Connection Flight 4819 and many others before it.
Over the last two months, global commercial air travel has been rocked by more than a half dozen unusual accidents that have raised concerns about aviation safety.
It’s difficult to feel safe when you’re completely out of control and have no sense of what’s happening in the aircraft.
The incident comes less than three weeks after an American Airlines plane collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport, and on the heels of deadly Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines accidents in December.
The United States experienced three fatal plane crashes in just eight days, beginning with the deadliest aviation accident in America in the last 24 years.
The images of the Delta plane that flipped is unsettling for many passengers across the world who are probably going to the edge whenever they have to travel by air because the United States which boasts some of the strongest aviation regulations in the world is heavily challenged by safety wise and is in the eyes of the storm at the moment.
Nigeria has had its fair share of recurring air incidents, but none is as bad as those that occurred in America claiming many lives and injuring many as well.
The frequent aircraft incidents in Nigeria have raised concerns for an industry that operates with lesser aircraft frequency than many other busy airports.
The frequency of the incidents has raised safety concerns and helped to raise questions among stakeholders about the oversight function of the aviation regulatory body and the internal appraisal of safety by the operators.
There is mounting concern over the frequent air incidents involving local airlines in the last year.
Concern over these life-threatening incidents has led to a call for industry regulators to enforce safety standards and operators to comply with them.
The latest serious incident involving Max Air’s B737-400 at the Mallam Aminu Kno International Airport (MAKIA) has led to scrutiny and call for the overhaul of the airline industry.
Before now, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had commenced organizational risk profiles for each scheduled operator, including Max Air.
After the incident, Max Air announced a suspension of its operations for three months to appraise its operations.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu disclosed that the audit the agency was carrying out was the economic audit that would critically examine the financial health of the airline to guarantee its capability to sustain safe flight operations, just as the resumption of Max Air’s domestic flight operations he said would be predicated on the satisfactory completion of this audit.
He explained that during the three-month suspension period which commences on January 1, 2025, the NCAA will conduct a thorough safety and economic audit on Max Air, stressing that the audit would examine the airline’s organization, procedures, personnel, and aircraft.
Max Air has been in the eyes of the storm because of the so many incidents the airline has been involved drawing the curiosity of stakeholders that something could be wrong with the carrier’s safety procedure.
Some aviation analysts say the recent airline crashes come after an unprecedented period of airline safety in the U.S. They believe confidence in air travel will return soon.
They equally hinted that the crashes in the US have negative repercussions for air travel confidence not only in the US but around the world including Nigeria.
While it may seem like there’s an increased danger because of the recent high-profile incident, experts say it doesn’t mean there’s an uptick in crashes.
A former Assistant Secretary-General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mohammed Tukur said, “I don’t think we’re any less safe than we’ve always been. Flying remains one of the safest ways to travel. You have a better opportunity of getting in a car crash and killed than in an airplane. Still for some, the fear of flying can be crippling.”
According to the report, there were 31 aviation-related incidents in 2024. As of today, there have been a total of eight incidents in 2025. Keep in mind, that those numbers encompass all of aviation as a whole, including general, private, and military aviation.
Additionally, those numbers include incidents ranging from turbulence significant enough to cause injury to actual crashes.
If you adjust for only commercial aviation and crashes, the numbers are even lower. ranging from turbulence significant enough to cause injury to actual crashes. If you adjust for only commercial aviation and crashes, the numbers are even lower.
An aircraft engineer who pleaded anonymity said the risk of dying on a flight is close to zero. The high-profile accidents of late are a coincidence.
“Twelve million people board planes every day, on average, each year. The overwhelming majority of days, not a single passenger is injured let alone killed”, he said.
He however said the recent accidents should prompt careful analysis and vigilance about “potential deficiencies in the system.”
The D.C. collision he noted was the deadliest accident involving a U.S. airline to occur in more than a decade.
