American Airlines

Is American Airlines safe?

American is safe to fly. Its mainline has had no fatal crash since 2001, but its regional brand had the worst US airline crash in years. On 29 January 2025, American Eagle 5342, a regional jet flown by American's wholly owned subsidiary PSA Airlines, collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac. All 64 people on board died. It was the deadliest US airline crash since 2001. We describe it here, but like all regional partners, PSA is not counted in American's accident score.

That crash was not caused by the airline's crew or maintenance, and the NTSB did not find it so. But our rubric counts fatal accidents on the airline's flights, because that is the risk a passenger takes.

What happened over the Potomac?

The CRJ700 from Wichita was on a short final approach to runway 33 at Washington National on a clear night. An Army UH-60 Black Hawk on a training flight was following a charted helicopter route along the river, which put it a short distance below the jet's approach path. The tower asked the helicopter crew if they had the jet in sight; they said they did and would keep clear, but they did not. The two collided at about 300 feet. All 64 on the jet and three soldiers on the helicopter died.

At its board meeting on 27 January 2026, the NTSB named a series of causes: the FAA's placement of the helicopter route next to a busy approach and its overreliance on visual separation, the helicopter crew's failure to keep clear, a tower team overloaded by combined positions that gave no safety alert to either crew, and the Army's failure to make pilots aware of how far their altimeters could read off. Contributing factors included DCA's arrival rate, airline scheduling and the FAA's failure to act on earlier recommendations such as ADS-B In, which could have shown the crew the helicopter. The FAA has since closed the route, limited helicopter flights, cut the arrival rate and added tower staff.

The mainline record

American's own mainline has not had a fatal crash since 12 November 2001, when Airbus A300 Flight 587 broke up over Queens, New York, killing 265 people. The NTSB found the first officer had over-used the rudder in wake turbulence; American changed its upset training afterwards. Earlier fatal crashes include Flight 965 into a mountain near Cali, Colombia, in 1995 and Flight 1420 at Little Rock in 1999.

The most serious non-fatal crash since then was AA331, a Boeing 737-800 that overran a wet runway at Kingston, Jamaica, in December 2009 and was destroyed. Fourteen passengers were seriously hurt; nobody died. Three more jets have been written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in service since, all without deaths: a 757 after a tail strikeTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary on landing at Miami in 2014, a 767 whose right engine failed and caught fire on take-off at Chicago O'Hare in October 2016 (flight 383), and an A321 whose wingtip hit the ground on take-off at New York JFK in April 2019 (flight 300). ASN also lists three aircraft written off on the ground: a 767 burnt by an uncontained engine failure during a maintenance run at Los Angeles in 2006, and two MD-80s damaged in maintenance and ramp mishaps at Dallas/Fort Worth in 2012 and 2013.

2025: fires and evacuations

The year after the crash was not quiet:

• 13 March 2025, Denver: AA1006, a 737-800 diverted with engine vibration, caught fire after landing; passengers escaped onto the wing and 12 were taken to hospital.
• 9 May 2025, San Francisco: an A321 left a piece of an engine thrust reverser on the runway on take-off and flew on to Dallas, where it landed normally; American grounded it for inspection.
• 26 July 2025, Denver: AA3023, a 737 MAX 8, rejected its take-off after a landing gear problem and a small fire, and everyone left by the slides.

On 13 January 2023, an American Boeing 777 crossed an active runway at New York JFK without clearance in front of a Delta 737-900ER that was starting its take-off roll; the Delta crew aborted the take-off and nobody was hurt (NTSB).

Fleet and regional partners

American's 1,013 mainline aircraft averaged 14.3 years at the end of 2025, according to its 10-K, against 14.8 for Delta and 15.3 for United. The 303 737-800s average 16.1 years; the 132 A319s, 48 A320s and 47 777-200ERs are 22 to 25 years old. American also has 89 737 MAX 8s, 84 A321neos and 70 Boeing 787s, each type under eight years old on average, and took its first A321XLRs in 2025.

American Eagle adds 567 regional aircraft. Envoy, PSA and Piedmont are owned by American; Republic and SkyWest fly under contract. When you book, the operator is shown under each flight.

How to fly American with less risk

• Look at "Operated by" on short routes. Regional jets are safe, but most deadly US airline crashes in the last 25 years have been on regional flights.
• In an evacuation, leave everything. The Denver evacuations in 2025 showed passengers with bags on the slides and the wing.
• Keep your belt on in turbulence-prone areas, such as summer storms over Texas and the Carolinas, the heart of American's network.

How we scored it

The accident record (88) counts mainline flights only: four in-service write-offsHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary without deaths since 2009 keep it out of the top band. Incidents (68) are the main drag, after the 2025 engine fires and evacuations. FAA oversight (90) and a younger fleet than United (70) help. See also Delta, which scores higher.