ACSF Data Shows Stable Bizav Risk Amid 2026 Pressures

A year of regulatory upheaval and geopolitical disruption hasn’t shifted the underlying shape of business aviation risk, according to the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s (ACSF) midyear Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) review. This is even as air traffic hit records in 2026, driven by heightened Part 135 activity and a monthlong surge tied to the FIFA World Cup.

Altitude deviation and traffic proximity events, two leading categories every year since 2024, have made up a consistent 30% to 33% of all safety reports for three straight years. According to ACSF, this continuity suggests that operators are absorbing more traffic without a corresponding rise in near midair collisions.

ACSF members submitted 432 ASAP events, totaling 760 reports, in the first half of 2026. Altitude deviation was the top category at 16%, followed by traffic proximity at 14%, concentrated in the New York metro area; Van Nuys, California; and South Florida. Human factors remain a leading root cause, with communications issues, altitude, and course deviations together accounting for a third of submissions.

Traffic proximity events trended downward even as overall traffic climbed, a pattern ACSF called “a genuinely encouraging sign” that airspace management tools are absorbing added volume rather than generating more near collisions.

Coordination and communication issues have also declined since the Jan. 29, 2025 midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—a decline ACSF links to procedural tightening that followed the crash. The NTSB’s investigation produced 74 findings and 50 safety recommendations, laying groundwork for the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency (ALERT) Act now moving through Congress.

ACSF cautioned that the findings have limits. “The data is well-suited to directing attention toward where risk is concentrated, but not yet refined enough to quantify how much actual risk has changed,” the review notes.