Here are the top ten safest airlines and top ten safest low cost airlines for 2015 from 449 airlines monitored.
According to the AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only safety and product rating website, Qantas is at the top of the list again. Qantas has a fatality free record in the jet era. Making up the remainder of the top ten in alphabetical order are: Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific Airways, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
AirlineRatings.com’s rating system takes into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies such as the FAA and ICAO as well as government audits and the airline’s fatality record.
Responding to public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low cost airlines.
They are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, Icelandair, Jetstar, Jetblue, Kulula.com, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly and Westjet.
Of the 449 airlines surveyed 149 have the top seven-star safety ranking, but almost 50 have just three stars or less. Five airlines only achieved one star for safety from AirlineRatings.com. These are: Agni Air, Kam Air, Nepal Airlines, Scat and Tara Air.
There is no doubt 2014 was a bad year for airline safety with some of the most tragic and bizarre incidents in modern history but the numbers can be deceiving.
Certainly 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities – higher than the 10-year average – is sickening. However, the world’s airlines carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights.
Flashback 50 years and there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers – 5 per cent of today’s number.
Another twist is that fatal accidents for 2014 were at a record low 21 – one for every 1.3 million flights. Two of the crashes last year – MH370 and MH17 – were unprecedented in modern times and claimed 537 lives.
