Amid all of the current headlines about airline accidents overseas and a few troubling incidents nearer to house, it’s simple to neglect that industrial air journey has by no means been safer.
True, 2024 was the worst 12 months for air security since 2018, largely because of the excessive demise toll in a single accident—the crash of a Jeju Air 737 in Muan, South Korea, on December 29, which killed 179 out the 181 individuals aboard. The accident is below investigation and the excessive casualty price was doubtless as a result of an uncommon confluence of things, which is why specialists warning in opposition to drawing sweeping conclusions based mostly on a single 12 months. Any evaluation should absorb a myriad of things. In one other deadly accident on Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Air flight was reportedly downed by Russian air protection programs over Kazakhstan. Remarkably, 29 out of the 67 passengers and crew survived, however it nonetheless raised questions in regards to the dangers to civilian plane flying into battle zones.
That stated, deadly air crashes are nonetheless extraordinarily uncommon, thanks largely to main enhancements in know-how and crew coaching over time (usually prompted by main accidents, resembling TWA 800 in 1996 and Air France 447 in 2009).
Final 12 months, there have been 11 deadly air accidents, with a complete of 318 individuals killed, among the many almost 37 million flights that criss-crossed the globe. That’s up from 2023, one of many most secure years for flying in historical past, with just one deadly crash involving a turboprop aircraft through which 72 individuals perished. However it’s nonetheless far lower than the 556 individuals who perished in industrial airline crashes in 2018.
And compared with driving, air journey is arms down the safer approach to get from level A to level B. In 2024, there have been roughly 34,000 deaths from street accidents within the USA alone.
John Cox, CEO of aviation consulting agency Security Working Techniques and a longtime pilot, says a tradition of sturdy authorities oversight is crucial when evaluating an airline’s total report. “Choose your airline rigorously,” he says. “Simply because the fare is low, doesn’t imply it’s your best option.”
Certainly, not all airways and governments have the identical excessive stage of vigilance in terms of security practices. For many who need to guarantee they’re flying with the most secure service, right here’s how the world’s airways stack up.
How the world’s most secure airways are ranked
Annually, the Australian aviation security and product overview web site AirlineRatings.com ranks the most secure airways based mostly on a seven-point score system. The corporate displays 385 airways worldwide and its methodology considers elements that embody accidents which have occurred up to now 5 years, critical incidents (these with the potential for a catastrophic consequence) up to now two years, private and non-private security audits, and the age of the fleet. Every airline is rated on a scale of 1 to seven “stars”; a service’s rating additionally considers the variety of passengers flown and the variety of sectors (every takeoff and touchdown), which tends to favor airways that function a excessive proportion of long-haul flights.
In 2025, the world’s most secure airways rating is as soon as once more topped by two antipodean champs, Air New Zealand, which claims the No. 1 spot for the second 12 months in a row, and Australian flag service Qantas (which has ranked No. 1 in 7 out of the previous 11 years, with the rankings courting again to 2013). Of the highest 25, 5 are U.S. airways, with the remainder hailing from Canada, Western Europe, the Center East, and Asia. There’s additionally a separate checklist for low-cost carriers, which this 12 months consists of 5 U.S. corporations as properly, together with JetBlue and Southwest.
The world’s 25 most secure airways
- Air New Zealand
- Qantas
- Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates (three-way tie)
- Virgin Australia
- Etihad Airways
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- EVA Air
- Korean Air
- Alaska Airways
- Turkish Airways
- TAP Air Portugal
- Hawaiian Airways
- American Airways
- Scandinavian Airways (SAS)
- British Airways
- Iberia
- Finnair
- Lufthansa/Swiss
- Japan Airways (JAL)
- Air Canada
- Delta Air Traces
- Vietnam Airways
- United Airways
The 25 most secure low-cost airways
- Hong Kong Specific
- Jetstar Group
- Ryanair
- EasyJet
- Frontier Airways
- AirAsia
- Wizz Air
- VietJet Air
- Southwest Airways
- Volaris
- Flydubai
- Norwegian
- Vueling
- Jet2
- Solar Nation Airways
- WestJet
- JetBlue Airways
- Air Arabia
- IndiGo
- Eurowings
- Allegiant Air
- Cebu Pacific
- ZipAir
- SKY Airline
- Air Baltic
So, what does this all imply for customers? Even representatives at Airline Scores concede that the variations amongst airways in terms of security might be minuscule. In spite of everything, most main international airways—not simply those who make the highest 25—usually rating seven stars total, with different particulars, such because the age of the fleet, in the end influencing the place the service lands on the checklist.
And whereas the checklist tends to principally characteristic the identical airways from 12 months to 12 months, there have been two new carriers on the highest 25 checklist this 12 months, Iberia and Vietnam Airways, and two stunning absences, Singapore Airways and KLM. Airline Scores CEO Sharon Petersen famous that whereas the latter two carriers “stay exceptionally secure and retain their seven-star security score, they simply narrowly missed out on a spot this 12 months as a result of incidents that occurred,” together with a extreme episode of turbulence aboard Singapore Airways.
And an airline might be excluded for quite a lot of causes: On the low-cost checklist, for instance, Spirit Airways, which has a score of seven stars, was dropped this 12 months as a result of it filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in November 2024 to restructure its funds.
Shoppers are suggested to test every particular person service’s rating at airlineratings.com/airways to see the place their airline stands and to have the ability to make an knowledgeable choice about flight security.
This story was initially printed in November 2023 and was up to date on January 17, 2025, to incorporate present info.
