What are the safest airlines?

Before discussing what the safest airlines are, it is important to note that, air travel as a whole, is seen as the safest mode of transport. Nevertheless, accidents on flights still do happen with there having been approximately 143 deaths per year for the last 5 years from flight accidents. On a positive note, as we know, flight accidents have reduced in the past year with the IATA (International Air Transport Association) reporting 72 deaths which is almost a 50% reduction on the five-year average.

The Top Spot

However, one could argue that even 72 deaths is 72 too many, especially in an area as highly regulated as air travel. Identifying the safest airlines gives an opportunity for the industry to look at their systems, benchmark standards, and then use this to set targets for all airlines. What this means is that the airlines that do not perform can improve their practices so they can match with leading airlines in the industry and aim to perform better so that they can reach and then later exceed these standards.

In terms of the safest airlines, it appears that for this year Air New Zealand has been ranked top by AirlineRatings.com. This website, as cited by Forbes magazine, rates the safety and in-flight product of 385 airlines using its own unique seven-star system. The site considers a comprehensive range of factors including serious incidents, recent fatal accidents, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, industry leading safety initiatives, expert flight training and fleet age.  However, the evaluation leaves out areas where airlines have no control over such as bird strikes, turbulence injuries, weather diversions and lightning strikes.

Air New Zealand has had no fatal accidents in the last 45 years. In this year’s rankings, the airline which also won in 2022, set a new benchmark in airline safety and operational excellence (service delivery). Geoffrey Thomas, the editor in chief of AirlineRatings.com, told Laura Begley Bloom from Forbes Magazine that Air New Zealand operates in some of the most challenging weather conditions which test pilot skills. Thomas also added that the airline has focused on the latest technology and the airline is state of the art in that respect.

Others in the Top 25

AirlineRatings.com did formerly provide a list of the top 20 safest airlines. However, as Thomas puts it, the margins were so small between airlines that they included the top 25 this year. The Australian airline, Qantas came a close second behind Air New Zealand this year, having previously won in 2023. The reduction in flight safety came as a result of having a slightly older fleet. According to Thomas, Qantas plans to address this with new fleets arriving.

Singapore Airlines has reached the top 25 airlines at number 13. This has occurred despite the fact that within the time surveyed, there was one death due to a flight accident causing a London to Singapore flight to be diverted to Bangkok. The reason for this is no doubt because it was caused by turbulence and therefore by the definition of AirlineRatings.com would not be classified as being in the control of the airline. Among the low-cost airlines Jetstar came top with easyJet and Ryanair following on in second and third places respectively.

As one can see therefore, the safest airline has been rated as Air New Zealand with the Australian airline Qantas coming a close second. However other airlines have also made it into the top 25 including Singapore Airlines which had one death during the year which would have been discounted due to the fact turbulence caused it. It does appear therefore that certain categories of fatality have been excluded by AirlineRatings.com  even though they may be valid as they may indicate the inability of pilots to handle difficult events. This may necessitate an improvement into the formation of such league tables. We have to wait to see how this progresses.