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Not as a single, all-purpose comparison. The strongest U.S. evidence compares regulated operating categories: the NTSB says Part 135 accident rates historically remained higher than Part 121 rates. Part 135 includes commuter and on-demand operations, including some business-jet charter; Part 121 covers specified air-carrier operations. That finding does not establish that every privately operated jet is riskier than every commercial aircraft, and available figures do not yield one worldwide rate comparing all private jets with all airline flights.
“Crash more often” can mean more crashes in total or a higher chance per flight, hour, or passenger trip. Counts alone cannot answer the risk question; the denominator and the kinds of flights being compared matter.
What do the U.S. comparisons show?
The closest supported comparison is between U.S. Part 135 and Part 121 operations—not between every private jet and every commercial aircraft. In its 2024 review, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Part 135 accident rates historically remained higher than Part 121 rates. The comparison used annual flight-activity estimates supplied by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The NTSB identified 116 fatal and 460 nonfatal Part 135 accidents from 2010 through 2022. Those are accident counts, not a rate by themselves. The Board also noted that FAA flight-hour estimates are not broken out by Part 135 scope and called for better activity data, limiting how precisely rates can be compared across those kinds of operations. NTSB, Part 135 Aviation Safety; NTSB report (PDF).
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Why Part 135 and Part 121 are not synonyms for “private” and “commercial”
U.S. regulations group aircraft operations by factors such as the service provided and aircraft or payload thresholds. Part 135 covers commuter and on-demand operations that do not meet Part 121 thresholds; Part 121 covers specified air-carrier operations. A private jet might be used for personal or corporate flying, or flown as an on-demand charter. “Commercial aircraft” can also refer to different regulatory and business categories. The labels therefore do not line up one-to-one. NTSB aviation statistics and glossary.
What do the latest headline figures measure?
These figures provide context, but they are not interchangeable: they cover different regions and operation groups, count different outcomes, and use different exposure measures.
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| Source and scope | Reported figure | What it means—and does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| FAA, U.S. general aviation, estimated FY2024 | 0.68 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours | An estimated fatal-accident rate for broad general aviation, not private jets alone. The FAA described it as the lowest GA fatal-accident rate since tracking began in 2009. FAA General Aviation Safety Fact Sheet, May 1, 2025. |
| International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), scheduled commercial flights worldwide, 2024 | 95 accidents, including 10 fatal; 2.56 accidents per million departures | A global scheduled-commercial count and rate per departure—not a U.S. rate per flight hour or a private-jet comparison. ICAO announcement, August 11, 2025. |
| Flight Safety Foundation, corporate jets | 176 accidents, including 37 fatal, during 2020–2024; 34 accidents, including 13 fatal, in 2025 | Accident counts, not exposure-adjusted rates. They cannot be compared directly with airline departures or the FAA’s GA flight-hour rate. Flight Safety Foundation 2025 Safety Report. |
Why counts and rates can tell different stories
A count says how many accidents occurred. A rate relates accidents to exposure—for example, flight hours or departures—and offers a fairer basis for comparing operations. Even rates answer different questions: a rate per hour is not directly comparable with one per departure, mile, or passenger. A meaningful comparison also needs the same geography, period, operating categories, and accident-severity definition.
- More total accidents does not necessarily mean higher risk per flight. An operation with many flights may accumulate more accidents while having a lower rate per departure.
- Different denominators are not interchangeable. The FAA’s GA figure is per flight hour; ICAO’s scheduled-commercial figure is per departure; the corporate-jet figures above are counts.
- “Accident” is broader than “fatal crash.” The NTSB’s statistical definition includes an occurrence involving death, serious injury, or substantial aircraft damage. Its glossary notes that intentional acts are included in accident counts but excluded from accident-rate computations. NTSB aviation statistics and glossary.
For those reasons, dividing corporate-jet accident counts by ICAO airline departures—or comparing those counts directly with the FAA’s GA rate—would not produce a valid risk comparison.
What can you reasonably conclude?
- The NTSB’s U.S. Part 135-versus-Part 121 comparison supports a qualified conclusion: Part 135 rates historically remained higher, subject to the activity-data limitations the Board describes.
- The FAA’s GA fatal-accident rate is useful context for broad U.S. general aviation, but it is not a private-jet statistic.
- ICAO’s worldwide scheduled-commercial figures describe airline operations using departures as the denominator; they cannot be set directly against U.S. flight-hour rates or corporate-jet counts.
- The available evidence does not establish a single worldwide, exposure-adjusted rate for all private jets versus all commercial aircraft.
ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar said in the agency’s August 11, 2025 release: “Aviation remains the safest form of transport, and the long-term trend demonstrates continuous improvement.” That broad statement does not resolve the narrower comparison between private-jet and airline operation categories. ICAO news release.
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