With the new year having now come around, AirlineRatings.com has produced its annual list of the world's safest airlines. The site, which describes itself as "the world's only airline safety and product rating website," takes into account factors when formulating its list. These include crashes and incidents in recent years, safety audits, fleet age, pilot training, and even the carrier's coronavirus protocols.

1 Qantas

Readers familiar with aviation safety and its history will perhaps be unsurprised to see Australian flag carrier Qantas come out on top. The airline, whose name is an acronym for its former moniker of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, is well known the world over for having an impressive safety record.

Indeed, its reputation on this front was brought to the general public by the 1988 film Rain Man, with its protagonist claiming that the airline has 'never crashed.' While this isn't quite true, Qantas has not been involved in a fatal accident since the early 1950s, representing an impressive clean streak lasting over seven decades. According to data from ch-aviation.com, its 125 planes are 13 years old on average.

2 Air New Zealand

Ranking in second place on the list is Qantas' Kiwi neighbor Air New Zealand. Forbes notes that the Auckland-headquartered flag carrier, which has been operating in its current guise since April 1965, had been last year's winner.

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According to the Aviation Safety Network, Air New Zealand hasn't had a passenger-carrying flight involved in a fatal accident since November 1979, more than 43 years ago. Its 106 aircraft are rather young, at just 8.8 years old on average.

3 Etihad Airways

Abu Dhabi-based UAE flag carrier Etihad Airways, in third place, holds the rare distinction of never having been involved in a fatal accident. The airline is admittedly at the younger end of the scale compared to other national carriers worldwide, but, for an operator of its size, this still represents a rather impressive feat all in all.

Its fleet is smaller and younger than those of Qantas and Air New Zealand, with its 93 aircraft having a mean age of just 8.2 years old. One notable incident that did involve one of Etihad's planes saw an Airbus A340-600 bound for the airline written off before it was even delivered. This came about after it collided with and mounted a concrete wall during engine tests at Airbus' base in Toulouse, France.

4 Qatar Airways

Sitting in fourth place is another highly-regarded Middle Eastern carrier, namely Doha-based Qatar Airways. Like Etihad, the airline has never had a fatal accident, and its only hull losses have come about due to hangar fires during maintenance. Qatar Airways' planes, particularly its widebodies, are some of the industry's newest designs, and its fleet as a whole has an average age of 10.9 years old.

5 Singapore Airlines

Rounding out the top five, we have esteemed Asian operator Singapore Airlines, whose 153 aircraft are just 8.7 years old on average. The carrier's 50-year history (under its current name) has been relatively incident-free, although October 2000 did see it suffer a fatal accident involving a Boeing 747 operating flight SQ006.

What do you make of this list? How many of the carriers mentioned have you flown with? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

Sources: AirlineRatings.com, Aviation Safety Network, ch-aviation.com, Forbes