World's safest airlines for 2015

AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only safety and product rating website, which was launched in June 2013, has announced its top ten safest airlines and top ten safest low cost airlines for 2015 from the 449 it monitors.

AirlineRatings.com announces its safest airlines for 2015.

Top of the list again is Qantas which has a fatality free record in the jet era. Making up the remainder of the top ten in alphabetical order are: Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, , Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

AirlineRatings.com’s rating system takes into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies such as the FAA and ICAO 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 ten safest airlines.

The AirlineRatings.com top ten are always at the forefront of safety innovation and launching new planes and these airlines are a byword for excellence.

Responding to public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low cost airlines.

They are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, Icelandair, Jetblue, Jetstar, Kulula.com, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly and Westjet.

Unlike a number of low cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) audit and have excellent safety records.

Of the 449 airlines surveyed 149 have the top seven-star safety ranking, but almost 50 have just three stars or less. Four airlines only achieved one star for safety from AirlineRatings.com. These are: Kam Air, Nepal Airlines, Scat and Tara Air.

In making their decision, AirlineRatings.com editors noted that over its 94-year history Qantas has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in safety and operations and is now accepted as the world’s most experienced airline.

In 2008 in its successful defence to the British Advertising Standards Association of its claim that it is the world’s most experienced airline, Qantas was able to list almost 30 notable industry leading achievements.

The Australian airline has been a leader in: the development of the Future Air Navigation System; the Flight Data Recorder to monitor plane and later crew performance; automatic landings using Global Navigation Satellite System as well as precision approaches around mountains in cloud using RNP.

Qantas was the lead airline with real time monitoring of its engines across its fleet using satellite communications, which has enabled the airline to detect problems before they become a major safety issue.

There is no doubt 2014 was a bad year for airline safety with some of the most tragic and bizarre incidents in modern history but the numbers can be deceiving.

Certainly 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities – higher than the 10-year average – is sickening. However, the world’s airlines carried a record 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights.

Flashback 50 years and there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers – 5 per cent of today’s number.

Another twist is that fatal accidents for 2014 were at a record low 21 – one for every 1.3 million flights. Two of the crashes last year – MH370 and MH17 – were unprecedented in modern times and claimed 537 lives.

John Travolta leads the unveiling of Qantas’s retro 1970s livery in Seattle in November 2014.