The world’s safest airlines

Qantas has been named the world’s safest airline for the third year in a row whilst Wings Air, Bluewing Airlines and eight other airlines have been rewarded only 1* for safety (the lowest rating.)

An annual survey has seen Qantas named the world’s safest airline for the third year running. Qantas was praised for its “extraordinary fatality-free record in the jet era”. In a separate ranking for low-cost airlines, American carrier Jetblue made the top 20 safest.

The survey was compiled by AirlineRatings.com, and independent plane safety and product rating website. 407 airlines were included in the survey, awarding them up to seven stars for safety.

Of those surveys, 148 were awarded the top seven star ranking; nearly 50 were awarded three stars or less. The star ratings take a number of factors into account, for example if the airline has been certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and if it’s on the EU airline blacklist.

The world’s 20 safest airlines (in alphabetical order, bar Qantas)

Qantas
Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airlines (ANA)
American Airlines
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
Etihad Airways
EVA Air
Finnair
Hawaiian Airlines
Japan Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
Scandinavian Airline System (SAS)
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia

The world’s 10 safest budget airlines (in alphabetical order)

Aer Lingus
Flybe
HK Express
Jetblue
Jetstar Australia
Thomas Cook
TUI Fly
Virgin America
Volaris
Westjet

The 10 airlines awarded just 1* for safety (in alphabetical order)

Batik Air
Bluewing Airlines
Citilink
Kal-Star aviation
Lion Air
Sriwijaya Air
TransNusa
Trigana Air Service
Wings Air
Xpress Air

IMG: On the airplane by skyseeker / Flickr cc.