World’s safest airlines for 2017 are in. Can you guess No. 1?

AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only safety and product rating website launched in June 2013, has announced its top twenty safest airlines and top ten safest low-cost airlines for 2017, from the 425 it monitors.

Top of the list for the fourth year is Australia’s Qantas, which has a fatality free record in the jet era – an extraordinary record!

Making up the remainder of the top twenty in alphabetical order are: Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia. At the forefront of safety innovation, these airlines have become a byword for excellence.

Qantas 787 Dreamliner. Credit: Boeing.

So what constitutes these ratings? In making its selections, AirlineRatings.com takes into account numerous factors that include; audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations, government audits, airline’s crash and serious incident record, profitability and fleet age.

Etihad Airways A380. Credit: Airbus.

Editors have also identified their top ten safest low-cost airlines.

In alphabetical order, these are: Aer Lingus, Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Jetstar Asia, Thomas Cook, Virgin America, Vueling and Westjet.

Unlike a number of low-cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) which has over 1000 audit items and have excellent safety records.

Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ER. Credit: Vortex.

In selecting Qantas as the world’s safest airline for the fourth year running, editors of AirlineRatings.com have noted that over its 96-year history the world’s oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an amazing record of first in operations and safety and is now accepted by the the British Advertising Standards Association as the industry’s most experienced carrier.

Qantas is also the lead airline with real-time monitoring of its engines across its fleet using satellite communications, which has enabled the airline to detect problems before they become a major safety issue.

Without a doubt, air crashes are big news. But despite some high-profile accidents in 2016, the number of crashes has shown a persistent and steady decline over the past two decades. In fact, 2016 was the second safest year on record to catch a flight. Before that, it was 2013, with only 29 fatalities recorded.

Although social media succeeds in fuelling fears of flying, aviation is still by far the safest way to travel and provides a context for the widest media coverage of high-profile crashes such as the LaMia tragedy in Colombia involving a Brazillian football team last year.

Analysis has also found the five-year average trend showed accidents occurring during approach and landing fell to their lowest point in 45 years.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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