On Sunday, October 5, 2025, KLM flight 601 from 
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) to 
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) diverted to Yellowknife Airport (YZF). The reason for the unplanned landing was the death of a 34-year-old female passenger in flight.
The 787-10 Dreamliner touched down just before 15:00 in Yellowknife after flying for nearly 13 hours and 6,300 kilometers, according to FlightAware tracking data. CBC reported that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police responded, but, despite life-saving attempts, the woman was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Professionalism & Dignity In The Air
Efforts by cabin crew and medical professionals on the flight began immediately after the woman’s medical emergency was identified. Those lifesaving measures were continued by first responders on the ground once the plane landed. Sadly, the passenger was not able to be resuscitated after those combined efforts. Cabin crew are trained to respond to these rare but extreme emergencies, and most airlines follow IATA’s guidelines on what to do if a passenger is believed to be dead.
Flight attendants administer first aid and seek help from any passengers who are medical professionals. Rarely, if a qualified person is on the flight, the deceased passenger is declared as such before landing, but most often that happens on the ground. Earlier this year, the BBC interviewed Jay Robert, a cabin manager for a major European airline, about what happens when a passenger passes away at 30,000 feet. He said:
“We go from service to lifesaving to mortician, dealing with dead bodies and then doing crowd control. We’re having to calculate: ‘Okay, we still need to serve 300 people breakfast or dinner and we have to deal with this’.”
Industry Standards For Tragedy In Flight
According to guidelines established by the International Air Transport Association, cabin crew trained to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation should continue CPR until one of these conditions happens: the passenger breathes again, CPR is unsafe to do, all crew are exhausted, the plane lands, or no sign of life after 30 minutes.
Once lifesaving measures are deemed futile, the cabin crew notifies the captain of the plane to coordinate with ground services. The flight attendants put the deceased into a seat and cover their body with a blanket, and close the person’s eyes if no body bag is kept aboard by the airline. If family or companions of the deceased are flying along as well, contact information is gathered, and the crew accompanies them until the proper authorities take over.
The IATA also recommends that shock resuscitation with an Automated External Defibrillator is appropriate, and, if a contagion is suspected, then the Universal Precaution Kit should be used to handle the body. The organization also recommends that airlines prepare ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ plans if the deceased person is accompanied, so that family or friends can make the call to continue lifesaving efforts or not.
How Often Does It Happen?
The actual number of flyers that pass away around the world every year while in the air is less than 100 in total, as recent studies have concluded. According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, in-flight medical emergencies occurred at a rate of 18.2 incidents per million passengers. The total rate of fatal outcomes observed by a 2023 study was 0.21 deaths per million passengers, according to Flight Delayed.
The rare occurrence is shocking and often traumatic for both the passengers and crew, which is why professional training and preparation are crucial for cabin crew. It may never happen in one’s career, but it’s never impossible for a routine cabin service to suddenly shift into a worst-case scenario that demands grace and professionalism of the highest order. Fortunately for every customer aboard, FAs are there to handle the worst-case scenario.
