This was published 5 years ago
Where Qantas and Virgin Australia rank: The world's safest – and least safe – airlines
By Oliver Smith
Qantas and Virgin Australia are among the 20 safest airlines on Earth.Credit: Alamy
Qantas and Virgin Australia are among the 20 safest airlines on Earth, according to an annual ranking of the world's biggest carriers.
The website AirlineRatings.com assessed 409 major airlines before delivering its verdict, taking into account previous incidents, the average age of their fleets, and audits from governments and the aviation industry's regulatory bodies.
For the last four years it has singled out Qantas as the world's safest airline, ahead of a chasing pack of 19 rivals, However this year it listed the Australian flag carrier alongside the rest of the top 20.
Virgin Australia are also at the top table; others include Singapore Airlines, recently voted the world's best airline in the annual Skytrax awards, as well as Air New Zealand, Emirates, Etihad, KLM and Lufthansa.
Just two US airlines were included in the top 20. Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian remain, but Delta and United, both of which appeared last year, have been dropped in favour of Emirates and Royal Jordanian.
The 20 safest airlines (in alphabetical order)
Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airways
British Airways
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
Etihad Airways
EVA Air
Finnair
Hawaiian Airlines
Japan Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
Qantas
Royal Jordanian Airlines
Scandinavian Airline System
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
"Our top 20 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence and the launching of new more advanced aircraft like the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787," said Geoffrey Thomas, AirlineRatings.com's editor-in-chief.
"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the jet era. But Qantas is not alone. Long established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair also have perfect records in the jet era."
The website also identified what it claims are the 10 safest low-cost airlines.
"Unlike a number of low cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have excellent safety records," Thomas explained.
AirlineRatings.com isn't the only organisation to rate carriers according to safety. Germany's Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC) does likewise, and it is Emirates that currently takes the crown, ahead of Norwegian, Virgin Atlantic, KLM and EasyJet. Neither British Airways nor Ryanair feature in the top 20.
Which are the world's least safe airlines?
AirlineRatings.com also announced its lowest ranked airlines for 2018. Air Koryo, North Korea's flag carrier, Bluewing Airlines, based in Suriname, Indonesia's Trigana Air Service, and four Nepalese carriers – Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines, Tara Air, and Yeti Airlines – were all awarded just a single star.
There are currently more than 100 airlines – most of which you probably haven't heard of – banned from EU airspace, or facing operational restrictions, as they don't meet European safety standards. They include every airline from Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Sudan, as well as dozens from Indonesia.
The airlines banned from flying to the EU
Blue Wing Airlines, Suriname
Iran Aseman Airlines, Iran
Iraqi Airways, Iraq
Med-View Airline, Nigeria
Air Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Avior Airlines, Venezuela
Nations whose airlines are banned from flying to EU
Afghanistan
Angola (except TAAG Angola Airlines)
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Gabon (except Afrijet and SN2AG)
Kyrgyzstan
Liberia
Libya
Nepal
Republic of Congo
São Tomé and Príncipe
Sierra Leone
Sudan
But fear not, flying has never been safer
According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), which records all air crashes and incidents reported around the world, there were just 10 fatal accidents involving commercial flights last year, resulting in 44 deaths. This is down from 16 fatal accidents and 302 deaths in 2016.
Furthermore, none of 2017's fatalities involved a commercial passenger jet. Given that around 36.8 million passenger flights took to the sky last year, that works out at just one fatal accident for every 7.36 million departures.
The last fatal accident aboard a commercial passenger jet happened on April 17, 2018, when an engine of a Southwest aircraft suffered catastrophic failure shortly before reaching cruising altitude. Debris from the engine breached one of the windows resulting in the cabin experiencing rapid decompression. Of the 148 passengers and crew on board, one died.
The Telegraph, London
See also: World's best airlines for 2018 name as Virgin's ranking plummets
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