Qantas Named World’s Safest Airline Amidst Reports Air Travel Safety is at All-Time High
Mary Minor Davis January 08, 2015
Even as officials continue to search for answers surrounding a series of air tragedies that occurred in 2014, flyers can rest assured that they are traveling in one of the safest periods of aviation history.
AirlineRatings.com released its 2015 list of the world’s safest airlines on Tuesday, and number one on the list is fatality-free Qantas Airways. The Australian flag carrier was followed in alphabetical order by Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific Airways, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
In the low-cost category, but still earning the 7-star rating, were Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, Icelandair and jetBlue. Among those earning just one star were Agni Air, Kam Air, Nepal Airlines, Scat and Tara Air.
As the investigation into what caused a series of high-profile commercial airline crashes last year continues, it is natural for flyers to question the safety conditions of air travel. A total of 22 accidents throughout 2014 resulted in 992 fatalities — the most since 2005, according a report from NBC News report.
Despite the high number of fatalities, industry experts say the skies have never been safer. The number of accidents themselves is at its lowest point since the advent of modern aviation, according to Harro Ranter, president of Aviation Safety Network, even as there is a rapid growth in air traffic.
Ranter told NBC that based on 2000’s accident rate per 1 million passengers, the world could have anticipated 39 passenger flight accidents in 2014. A focus on safety improvements, the retiring of older aircraft and the introduction of updated technology have all contributed to the overall safety of air travel.
[Photo: Qantas]
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A long overdue honour IMHO. QF isn't just the world's safest airline it is so ostensibly and with a large margin. It sports an unbeatable track record. And while I usually did not like their food, I always enjoyed the flying style and the decisiveness of their pilots. I do realise that by some newfangled metric some young carriers like EK or QR or some smaller carriers like NZ or AY should be equally safe or even safer but that is just "committee talk" or some wanton authorities speaking. QF has the crews, the statistics, and their well maintained planes all on their side.
because "airlineratings" is australian company. That´s the reason for Qantas being first and ANZ second.
QFA32, anyone? also, why isn't QR on the list?