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Unfortunately, airline news has been dominated recently by a number of threats to passengers. Most recently, the EgyptAir crash in the Mediterranean has brought airline safety to the forefront and nervous fliers may be looking for some reassurances before taking off this summer. For travelers wondering which airlines are the safest, AirlineRatings.com has put together an annual survey rating airlines' safety records.
Its ratings system takes into account a range of factors that include audits from the aviation industry's governing bodies and associations, government audits and the airline's fatality record. Editors at AirlineRatings.com also take into account an airline's operational history, incident records and operational excellence to determine its rankings.
Number one in its 2016 rankings is Qantas, an honor the airline has held for three years running. What makes the airline standout? A fatality-free record, which is extraordinary in the jet era.
Here are the top 20 airlines on the list in alphabetical order:
Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airlines
American Airlines
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
Etihad Airways
EVA Air
Finnair
Hawaiian Airlines
Japan Airlines
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Lufthansa
Qantas
Scandinavian Airline System
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
According to AirlineRatings.com, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have excellent safety records. And they all have a seven-star safety ranking. In fact, 148 of the 407 airlines surveyed hold a seven-star ranking and readers who are curious about what an airline's safety star ranking is, can check out the website and view ratings.
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For those looking for data on low-cost carriers, here are the top 10 low-cost carriers:
Aer Lingus
Flybe
HK Express
JetBlue
Jetstar Australia
Thomas Cook
TUI Fly
Virgin America
Volaris
West Jet
Air travel may seem volatile, but fliers must consider the sheer volume of passengers and, while headlines are made when there are safety issues - and rightly so - flying is still one of the safest means of transport. According to the ICAO Safety Report in 2015, airlines carried approximately 3.2 billion passengers in 2014, which was up 5 percent from 2013 numbers. In 2015, airlines carried even more - 3.6 billion on 34 million flights.
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