With international travel on the verge of reopening, you are no doubt wondering which airlines are the safest to travel with. Skytrax is an international air transport rating organisation and has created the world’s first COVID-19 Safety Accreditation for the airline industry. So which airlines sit at the top? There are only six in the world. Read on to find out the only six airlines to receive the top recognition.
1. AirBaltic
First up is the flag carrier of Latvia. AirBaltic has ramped up their safety precautions for customers through the pandemic with increased disinfection after every return flight, including temperature scanning at the airport and a complimentary care kit including masks and wipes. They even now have around half of their staff vaccinated!
The airline’s hub is at Riga International Airport, with further bases at Tallinn Airport and Vilnius Airport and it was first founded in 1995.
2. ANA All Nippon Airways
Also known as ANA or Zennikkū, this is Japan’s largest airline offering flights to destinations in Asia, Europe and North America from its hubs in Osaka and Tokyo. It became the first airline in Asia to receive the top accreditation and achieved it through their dedication of ensuring correct social distancing measures and cleaning procedures on the ground and onboard their flights.
3. Fiji Airways
Accredited with the 5-star rating last month, Fiji Airways has become the first airline in the region of Australia and New Zealand to be honoured with the top rating. Fiji Airways established its Travel Ready programme in 2020, to safeguard the health, wellbeing and medical safety of customers and staff, and covers more than 1,200 health and safety actions. A part of the programme was the introduction of medically-qualified Customer Wellness Champions to look after customers’ wellbeing on the ground and onboard.
4. Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines have created their FlySafe programme increasing hygiene, non-contact technology and protective measures worn by cabin crew and passengers to minimise the risk of transmitting COVID-19. The airline have also recently begun trialling the IATA travel pass app to further increase the safety of travellers.
5. Oman Air
Oman Air ensures that every step of the journey, from food preparation to baggage handling, has been established based on expert knowledge and global experience to ensure that our guests and crew are safe at all times.
Mr Abdul Aziz Al Raisi, CEO of Oman Air said: “We are honoured to receive this latest recognition from Skytrax, which serves to highlight the tremendous efforts made by our airline to ensure that the highest levels of COVID-19 safety precautions are consistently met on every journey with Oman Air.”
6. Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways became the first airline to officially receive the 5-star rating and much like the other five, they have introduced thermal screening, compulsory face coverings and increased cleaning. Last month they continued to ensure safety by becoming the first global carrier to operate Honeywell’s Ultraviolet (UV) Cabin System version 2.0 which is a high tech cleaning system used onboard their planes.
Skytrax Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Edward Plaisted, said: “We congratulate Qatar Airways on being awarded with the highest 5-Star COVID-19 Safety Rating and being the world’s first major airline to be certified at this level. ”
The airlines are judged by over 190 safety and hygiene protocols that have been introduced during the pandemic to enhance customer and staff safety. What do you think about the ratings? Let us know below.
