Numerous Factors Considered In Determining The Rankings

AirlineRatings.com has announced its top 20 safest airlines for 2018 from the 409 it monitors.

The top twenty are the "who's who" of airlines. They are, in alphabetical order: Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.  

"These airlines are standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety and innovation," said AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas.

"For instance, Australia's Qantas has been recognized by the British Advertising Standards Association in a test case in 2008 as the world's most experienced airline."

"It is extraordinary that Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the jet era," said Mr Thomas.

"But Qantas is not alone. Long established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair have perfect records in the jet era."

Responding to public interest, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top ten safest low-cost airlines.

These are in alphabetical order: Aer Lingus, Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Thomas Cook, Virgin America, Vueling and Westjet.

In making its selections AirlineRatings.com's takes into account numerous critical factors that include; audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations; government audits; airline's crash and serious incident record and fleet age.

AirlineRatings.com also announced its lowest ranked (one star) airlines which are; Air Koryo, Bluewing Airlines, Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines, Tara Air, Trigana Air Service and Yeti Airlines.

(Source: Airline Ratings news release)

FMI: www.AirlineRatings.com