Photo: Shutterstock The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for closer integration of people, technology and global standards as the aviation industry works to further improve safety.
Speaking at the opening of the IATA World Safety and Operations Conference 2026 in Istanbul, IATA Director of Safety Mark Searle said aviation has become safer over the past decade, but the industry still has work to do.
Fatal accident rates have improved from one accident per 3.5 million flights to one per 5.6 million flights over the period. However, 394 people lost their lives in aviation accidents in 2025.
“The next advance in safety will come from people, technology, and standards working together better as one resilient system,” Searle said.
IATA highlighted three areas that will be important as a new generation of aviation professionals enters the industry.
The first is the transfer of knowledge between generations. The organization said decades of operational experience need to be preserved through mentoring, training and succession planning. At the same time, experienced aviation professionals need to work alongside younger employees with stronger digital and artificial intelligence skills.
IATA also stressed the importance of maintaining a safety culture in which employees can report errors, hazards and near misses without fear of punishment. According to the association, this allows the industry to learn from mistakes and prevent future incidents.
Technology is another major part of the safety equation. IATA said new systems, including artificial intelligence, should be judged by whether they help safety professionals understand risks, support better decisions and allow operations to remain safe if the technology becomes unavailable or compromised.
Searle pointed to the growing problem of Global Navigation Satellite System interference as an example of why aviation cannot rely on technology alone. Redundancy, procedures, training and human judgment remain necessary when systems are degraded or provide misleading information.
IATA also called for more consistent implementation of existing global safety standards. The organization said the strong safety record of airlines on the IOSA registry demonstrates the value of common standards, but argued that inconsistent implementation and oversight remain challenges.
Rather than simply creating more rules, IATA said the priority should be making sure existing standards are understood, applied and properly overseen worldwide.
The association also called for stronger state compliance with international obligations, particularly regarding conflict zone risk information and accident reporting. It said standards should also be regularly simplified and updated to reflect changes in technology, operations and regulation.
“People, technology, and standards must reinforce one another,” Searle said, adding that weaknesses in any one of the three can reduce the resilience of the wider aviation system.