Check out Airline Ratings’ safest airlines for 2018

Passenger airplane taking off at sunset
By Hannah Edensor


While the USA shivers through one of its coldest ever winters, and here in Australia asphalt is literally melting thanks to the 45-degree heat, it’s nice to get some positive news.

And this news comes in the shape of a plane, well several actually.

The experts over at AirlineRatings.com have looked at the 409 major airlines (no, we had no idea there was that many either) and assessed which is the safest.

According to AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas, these airlines are standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation, and launching of new aircraft.

“For instance, Australia’s Qantas has been recognized by the British Advertising Standards Association in a test case as the world’s most experienced airline.”

“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,” Thomas said.

“But Qantas is not alone. Long established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair have perfect records in the jet era.”

So without any further delays, here are the Top 20 safest airlines for 2018, 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

 

Top 10 Safest Low-Cost Airlines:

Responding to the public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their Top 10 safest low-cost airlines.

These are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus, Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, 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) and have excellent safety records.

To arrive at its Top 20 AirlineRatings.com takes into account the most important factors for safety that include; audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations; government audits; airline’s crash and serious incident record and the fleet age.

Top 20 Safest Airlines For 2018 – Grading Logic and Approach

According to Thomas, the site only looks at serious incidents in making its determinations.

“All airlines have incidents every day and many are aircraft manufacture issues, not airline operational problems. And it is the way the flight crew handles incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one.

“So just lumping all incidents together is very misleading. 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.”

AirlineRatings.com also announced its lowest ranked (one star) airlines which are; Air Koryo, Bluewing Airlines, Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines, Tara Air, Trigana Air Service and Yeti Airlines.

AirlineRatings was launched in June 2013 and rates the safety and in-flight product of 409 airlines using its unique seven-star rating system.

 

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