Study Reveals Globe’s Safest Carriers with Surprising Results

Big names and heritage legacies dominate the list, as do a number of younger low-cost and budget airlines.

Air safety and product review website Airlineratings.com has revealed its list of the globe’s top 20 safest carriers for 2018.

The full list is available to view here, but out of a roster of the 409 carriers monitored by the website, big names like Air New Zealand, British Airways, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic are dominant. These carriers, according to Geoffrey Thomas, the site’s editor-in-chief, are at the top of their games both in terms of technological developments as well as in terms of safety advances.

Speaking specifically of Australia’s flag carrier, Thomas said, “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.”

While famous names dominate this year’s list, Thomas is quick to point out that other brands also have excellent records. “Long-established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair have perfect records in the jet era,” he added.

The site’s editorial team have also produced their list of the safest budget carriers, which is available to view here. Aer Lingus, Flybe, Jetstar, Vueling and Westjet have all been lauded in the low-cost category. According to the site, all of these budget airlines have passed their International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have solid safety records.

Revealing the methodology that went into compiling this year’s list, Thomas explained that the website only took major incidents into account when considering the safety of the carriers it monitors.

“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,” he said.

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