Air travel can be a stressful process, from shuffling through security to dealing with flight cancellations and delays. But one stressor that no passenger should have to worry about is the safety credentials of the aircraft they’re on.
Fortunately, every year aviation safety site AirlineRatings.com vets air carriers around the globe – monitoring serious safety incidents on 385 airlines – to determine which are the world’s 20 safest. “All airlines have incidents every day, and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues, not airline operational problems,” Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings, said in a statement. “It is the way the flight crew handles these incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one.”
The site’s staff analyses each airline’s records for crashes over the last five years, serious incidents over two years, audits from aviation’s governing bodies and associations; fleet age, expert analysis of pilot training, and Covid protocols. In addition to these criteria, each airline that makes the list is also at the top of the industry in terms of safety innovations and have added cutting-edge aircraft to their fleets, like the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787, according to Thomas.
This year, the safest airline in the world is Australia‘s Qantas – which has held the title numerous times before but slipped to the number seven spot in 2022. “Over its 100-year operational history the world’s oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an amazing record of firsts in operations and safety and is now accepted as the industry’s most experienced airline,” AirlineRatings’ editors wrote.
One British airline, British Airways, made the list at number 17. Five US airlines also made the list, including Alaska Airlines, which is ranked number eight on the list and the only US carrier to make the top 10.
The full list of AirlineRatings’ top 20 safest airlines in the world for 2023 are:
- Qantas
- Air New Zealand
- Etihad Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Emirates
- Alaska Airlines
- EVA Air
- Virgin Australia/Atlantic
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines
- SAS
- United Airlines
- Lufthansa/Swiss Group
- Finnair
- British Airways
- KLM
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
This year, the aviation safety site also released an expanded list for the top 20 safest low-cost airlines in 2023 (it previously only ranked the 10 safest low-cost carriers around the world). Those airlines, listed in alphabetical order, are: Air Arabia, AirAsia Group, Allegiant, Air Baltic, Easyjet, FlyDubai, Frontier, Jetstar Group, Jetblue, Indigo, Ryanair, Scoot, Southwest, Spicejet, Spirit, Vueling, Vietjet, Volaris, Westjet, and Wizz. AirlineRatings judges the low-cost airlines on factors such as the results of safety audits from the International Civil Aviation Organization, safety incident records over the past two years, crash records over the past five years, overall fleet age, and whether they’re included on EU list of banned carriers.
