In 2023, the aviation industry had just achieved a historic milestone: its safest year on record.
But by the end of the following year, disaster struck.
On Christmas Day 2024, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane was downed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
Several days later, on December 29, came the Jeju Air crash in South Korea, which claimed 179 lives.
While air travel is still statistically the safest mode of transport, the International Air Transport Association's latest annual safety report saw the global fatality risk double from 0.03 in 2023 to 0.06 in 2024.
Global aviation fatalities more than tripled, rising from 72 in 2023 to 244 in 2024, marking the deadliest year in six years.
This number does not include accidents in conflict zones, such as the Azerbaijan Airlines crash.
"Even with recent high profile aviation accidents, it is important to remember that accidents are extremely rare," said Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
But with the Asia-Pacific region set to dominate the future of global air travel, experts say the industry will have to overcome challenges like staff shortages and congested airports to ensure strict safety standards are upheld.
Demand driven by low-cost carriers
Powerhouse markets such as China, India and Vietnam were fuelling a post-pandemic travel boom, especially among the Asia-Pacific's rising middle class, said the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) director-general Subhas Menon.
"Unlike in other regions, people here need to fly for business, to visit family, and for economic opportunities more regularly," said Mr Menon, who worked at Singapore Airlines for more than 30 years.
"Asia-Pacific aviation has been growing strongly for a very long time, but it got a major boost when China opened up," he said.
"Today, China is the second-largest aviation market in the world after the US."
By the end of 2024, passenger demand in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 26 per cent year-on-year, according to IATA, but remained 8.7 per cent below 2019 levels, indicating that full recovery had yet to be achieved.
Qantas and Air New Zealand last month rejoined AAPA, ending a long period without South Pacific airline representation in the organisation.
In recent years, Qantas has grown its presence across the Pacific with new connections to the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, and Timor Leste, as well as new routes from Brisbane to Manila.
It is not the only major airline seeking to expand its foothold in the region.
Tim Clark, president of Emirates, the fourth-largest carrier in the world, said the group had "significant aspirations for the Pacific Rim operation".
But congestion at China's airports had made securing new routes difficult.
"They're trying to accommodate us, but slots are not easy in their ports because they're so congested," Sir Clark said in January.
The level of regional demand has also been largely driven by the rapid growth in low-cost carriers since the mid-2000s said Simon Elsegood, head of research at the Sydney-based Centre for Aviation.
"Airlines like AirAsia have pursued a pan-Asian strategy, setting up units in multiple countries," he said.
"IndiGo has expanded rapidly in India, now with nearly 1,000 aircraft on order and plans to move into long-haul international operations.
"With a growing middle class and increasing disposable incomes, this region represents a massive source of potential air traffic, not just within Asia but globally."
Human resources already stretched, says safety expert
The Asia-Pacific is set to capture more than half the world's air travel passengers by 2040, according to IATA and other aviation groups.
Reflecting this reality, the Asia Pacific Centre for Aviation Safety was established in 2023 as a branch of the long-running Flight Safety Foundation.
The centre's director, Mitchell Fox, said a shortage of skilled aviation workers was becoming a major concern — not just pilots but also air traffic controllers and maintenance technicians.
"We need to take a holistic view of aviation safety, it's an entire ecosystem with many players involved," Mr Fox said.
"While frontline personnel like pilots and air traffic controllers are critical, there's so much that happens behind the scenes that isn't visible to the public.
"In fact, currently the demand for maintenance technicians is eclipsing the demand for pilots, yet it's not always seen as an attractive profession," he said.
In response to pilot shortages, some major airlines in the region have lowered standards.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific last year decreased the flight hours for first officers looking to be promoted to captain from a minimum of 4000 hours to 3000.
Captain Steve Cornell, safety and technical director at the Australian and International Pilots Association, said "pilot shortages remain a significant issue at some airlines".
"I think it's fair to say that overall experience levels [for pilots] are dropping," said Mr Cornell, who has over 20 years experience in commercial flying.
"Around the world, airlines adjust the minimum hours required for pilots based on demand. During shortages, those minimums tend to come down, and when there's a surplus, they go back up.
"There's a clear correlation between experience levels and safety, which is why maintaining high standards is so important."
Mr Cornell also pointed to a push by plane manufacturer Airbus to reduce the mandatory two-pilot cockpit requirement to one pilot, which has been heavily criticised by pilot associations.
He said global air traffic controller shortages were also concerning.
'Future-proofing aviation means adapting'
In February, a lack of air traffic controllers left pilots in parts of Eastern Australian air space using Traffic Information Broadcast by Aircraft procedures (TIBA), where they communicate directly to maintain safe separation from each other.
TIBA is typically used in the absence of an Air Traffic Control service, making its increasing use in Asia-Pacific a worrying sign of staffing shortages.
"It's something I had only come across in Somalia's airspace prior to Airservices Australia commencing to use it on a regular basis," Mr Cornell said.
Maintaining high safety standards in aviation required continued investment from governments and industry, with infrastructure and workforce development going hand in hand, Mr Fox said.
"We've seen remarkable infrastructure investment in China, and Singapore's Changi Airport is expanding to operate three runways and a new terminal that will double passenger capacity," he said.
However, safety remains the top priority for all stakeholders.
"As the industry grows, we must redouble our commitment to safety. Future-proofing aviation means adapting, innovating, and excelling," Mr Fox said.
