The world's safest - and least safe - airlines revealed
The world's safest - and least safe - airlines revealed
Qantas has been named the world’s safest airline for the third year running, while 10 carriers have been handed the lowest possible one-star rating
An annual survey of the world's biggest airlines has seen Qantas named the world's safest for the third year running.
The Australian carrier was praised for its "extraordinary fatality-free record in the jet era”, while Virgin Atlantic was the only UK airline to make it into the top 20.
In a separate ranking for low-cost airlines, two British carriers featured - Flybe and Thomas Cook.
The lists (see below for a full breakdown) were compiled by AirlineRatings.com, an independent plane safety and product rating website.
The website provided safety ratings for 407 airlines, awarding them up to seven stars for safety. Of those surveyed, 148 were given the top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 had just three stars or less.
The website's star ratings take mutliple factors into account, including whether an airline has been certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), if it is on the EU's airline blacklist, its crash record and whether the fleet has been grounded over safety concerns. A star is removed if the airline operates only Russian-made aircraft.
British Airways was one of the 148 airlines awarded the maximum seven-star safety rating, something only given to non-budget carriers, although it did not make it into AirlineRatings.com'sk of the 20 safest airlines. In deciding which make the top 20, judges at AirlineRatings.com also compared each airline's history of incidents and operational excellence.
Along with Qantas, other airlines to make the top 20 included Air New Zealand, American Airlines, Etihad, Emirates, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
"Our top 20 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence and the launching of new more advanced aircraft," said Geoffrey Thomas, AirlineRatings.com editor. "These airlines are always at the forefront for excellence in the safety space," he added. "However there is no question amongst the editors that Qantas remains a standout in safety enhancements and best practice."
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
Despite some high profile aviation disasters in 2015, the total of 16 major accidents with 560 fatalities was below the 10-year average of 31 accidents and 714 fatalities. It was also an improvement on 2014, when there were 21 serious accidents with 986 fatalities.
Malaysia Airlines, struck by two incidents that left all passengers on board dead or missing in 2014, was given five stars out of a possible seven in the ratings, the same as Ryanair and Thomson Airways.
Mr Thomas explained that the Malaysian airline's rating was boosted by its completion of the IATA "operational safety audit" (IOSA), which he said Ryanair has not carried out. This is because, like some other budget airlines, Ryanair is not a member of IATA.
