These are the 20 safest airlines in the world in 2016
AirlineRatings.com has announced its top 20 safest airlines and top ten safest low cost airlines for 2016 from the 407 it monitors.
Top of the list for the third year is Australia’s Qantas, which has a fatality free record in the jet era.
AirlineRatings.com’s rating system takes into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and the airline’s fatality record.
AirlineRating.com’s editorial team, one of the world’s most awarded and experienced, also examined each airline’s operational history, incident records and operational excellence to arrive at its top twenty safest airlines.
Of the 407 airlines surveyed, 148 have the top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 have just three stars or less. There are 10 airlines with only one star and these airlines are from Indonesia, Nepal and Surinam.
In selecting Qantas as the world’s safest airline AirlineRatings.com editors noted that over its 95-year history the world’s oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in operations and safety and is now accepted as the industry’s most experienced carrier.
Last year was a disturbing year for airline safety with some tragic and bizarre accidents such as the high profile GermanWings and Metrojet disasters, the editors noted.
However according to Aviation-Safety.net data, the 16 accidents in 2015 with 560 fatalities were below the 10-year average of 31 accidents and 714 fatalities. Last yea
2015 was also a significant improvement over 2014 when there were 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities.
Balancing these numbers the world’s airlines carried a record 3.6 billion passengers on 34 million flights in 2015.
Flashback 50 years and there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers – 5% of today’s number.
Top 20 safest airlines:
| # | Country | Airline |
| 1 | Australia | Qantas |
| 2 | New Zealand | Air New Zealand |
| 3 | USA | Alaska Airlines |
| 4 | Japan | All Nippon Airlines |
| 5 | USA | American Airlines |
| 6 | Hong Kong | Cathay Pacific Airways |
| 7 | Dubai | Emirates |
| 8 | Abu Dhabi | Etihad Airways |
| 9 | Taiwan | EVA Air |
| 10 | Finland | Finnair |
| 11 | USA | Hawaiian Airlines |
| 12 | Japan | Japan Airlines |
| 13 | Holland | KLM |
| 14 | Germany | Lufthansa |
| 15 | Sweden | Scandinavian Airline System |
| 16 | Singapore | Singapore Airlines |
| 17 | Switzerland | Swiss |
| 18 | USA | United Airlines |
| 19 | United Kingdom | Virgin Atlantic |
| 20 | Australia | Virgin Australia |
Responding to public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low cost airlines.
Top 10 low cost airlines:
| # | Country | Airline |
| 1 | Ireland | Aer Lingus |
| 2 | United Kingdom | Flybe |
| 3 | HK Express | HK Express |
| 4 | USA | Jetblue |
| 5 | Australia | Jetstar Australia |
| 6 | United Kingdom | Thomas Cook |
| 7 | Germany | TUI Fly |
| 8 | USA | Virgin America |
| 9 | Mexico | Volaris |
| 10 | Canada | Westjet |
In December, AirlineRatings.com selected Air New Zealand as its Airline of the Year for 2016.
For value and safety in the Low Cost Airline sector the editors selected Virgin America (Americas), Norwegian (Europe), Kulula.com (Africa/Middle-East) and Scoot for Asia/Pacific.
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