The safest airlines in the world you can fly with

The recent accidents involving a Cathay Pacific plane, a Japan Airlines aircraft and others might have you wondering which airlines are the safest—here are the safest ones to help you put your mind at rest

A Cathay Pacific plane recently collided with a Korean Air aircraft on the tarmac at Tokyo airport, right where a Japan Airlines plane caught fire at the start of the year. Then, a door panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 shortly after takeoff. In fact, 2024 hasn’t got off to the best start for the airline industry. At least, that’s what some passengers planning to take to the skies for their next vacation might be thinking.

Does that mean that travellers will be looking to identify the type of aircraft scheduled for their trip when they search for airfares? When searching airline websites, this information can be easily found in the flight’s additional information. Flight comparison services can also provide this information after a trip has been selected. In addition, travellers’ choices could be influenced by the reputation of certain carriers, based on user reviews, for example.

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When it comes to airline safety, the Airlinesratings.com website has built a reputation as a benchmark for identifying the world’s safest airlines. According to this site, you’d be better off with a New Zealand, Australian or Middle Eastern carrier, since Air New Zealand, Qantas and Virgin Australia take the top three places respectively in the list of top 25 safest airlines for 2024—published before January’s various incidents. These are followed by Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Emirates.

Despite the recent incidents, Asian companies are considered to be performing well: not only is All Nippon Airways (Japan) in seventh place, but Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) is also well-placed (at ninth). Conversely, Europe is only represented in the top 10 by Finnair (Finland). Scandinavian carriers are the highest ranking in terms of safety, with SAS (Sweden) in 11th place. Other major European carriers, such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France, are ranked 15th, 18th and 23rd.

With air fares on the rise, travellers may prefer to know which low-cost airlines are the safest. They will be reassured to see that EasyJet and Ryanair rank second and third respectively. First place confirms Australian performance with the low-cost carrier Jetstar in the top spot.

*To establish this ranking, Airlinesratings.com analysed crashes over five years, serious incidents over two years, audits by aviation governing bodies and major organisations, government audits, fleet age and crew training.