For the third consecutive year, Qantas has been named the world’s safest airline. On January 5, 2016, safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com announced its top 20 safest airlines using a star rating system. Some 407 airlines were reviewed, with 148 receiving the top seven-star rating. Almost 50 earned a paltry three stars or less.
AirlineRatings.com, launched in 2013, doesn’t rank the top 20 safest airlines. Instead, it selects a sole overall standout. This year’s unrivaled airline, for the third year running, is Qantas.
The site’s rating system takes into account factors such as the airline’s operational history, incident records, and audits from aviations’ governing bodies such as IATA (International Air Transport Association). The site’s airline and safety ratings are designed to be transparent, and to encourage and promote safety throughout the airline industry for all passengers.
Qantas was singled out yet again for its unwavering commitment of making safety its number one priority. Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years, according to AirlineRatings.com
AirlineRatings.com says the 20 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence, and the launching of new more advanced aircraft.
In a separate report, AirlineRatings.com identified the top 10 safest low-cost airlines. Making the list, in alphabetical order, are: Aer Lingus, Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly, Virgin America, Volaris and Westjet. Only 10 airlines received only one star rating. On this list were airlines from Indonesia, Nepal, and Suriname.
Last year was indeed unsettling for airline safety. Several tragic and inexplicable accidents, such as the high profile GermanWings and Metrojet disasters, rattled the industry. But according to Aviation-Safety.net data, the 16 accidents in 2015 with 560 fatalities, were below the 10-year average of 31 accidents and 714 fatalities.
Last year was also a marked improvement over 2014 when 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities were recorded. Balancing these numbers, the world’s airlines transported a record 3.6 billion passengers on 34 million flights in 2015. Compare that to 50 years ago when a staggering 87 crashes killed 1,597 on flights carrying only 141 million passengers, or 5 percent of today’s number.
You can check out all airline safety ratings here. Following are the 20 safest airline in alphabetical order (expect for Qantas at the top spot):
2016’s 20 safest airlines in alphabetical order
1. Qantas
2. Air New Zealand
3. Alaska Airlines
4. All Nippon Airways
5. American Airlines
6. Cathay Pacific Airways
7. Emirates
8. Etihad Airways
9. EVA Air
10. Finnair
11. Hawaiian Airlines
12. Japan Airlines
13. KLM
14. Lufthansa
15. Scandinavian Airline System
16. Singapore Airlines
17. Swiss
18. United Airlines
19. Virgin Atlantic
20. Virgin Australia