The World's Safest Airlines 2019

Air travel is one of the world's safest forms of transportation. It takes a team to get a bird in the sky, and that team of ground crew, engineers, pilots, and operational managers are subject to many checks, double checks, and triple checks.

But unfortunately, accidents do happen, and when they do they are splashed across the front page of your local newspaper. Additionally, because so many people fly on a plane and are involved in incidences, they are generally thought to be unimaginable tragedies.

Thus, whilst air travel is very safe, there are actually some airlines that are safer than others. And to satisfy our curiosity (and perhaps paranoia) we have published a list below.

Who are the safest airlines flying today?

A recent report from Airlineratings.com has revealed the top 21 most safe airlines to fly on in the world, out of a pool of over 400 airlines. There are in no particular order or ranking, however, some carriers do have a perfect record of no injuries or deaths ever.

“These airlines are standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation, and the design and launching of new aircraft,” - Geoffrey Thomas, AirlineRatings.com’s editor-in-chief

To get this result, the website looked at various different factors that make up the safety rating of an airline. These are 'audits conducted by aviation-governing bodies, government audits, the airline’s crash and accident records, fleet age, and profitability'.

Qantas

“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"

Virgin Australia

Originally founded as Virgin Blue in Australia, this full-fledged carrier now rivals Qantas in Australia and likewise has never had a single accident involving any deaths.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Fleet — Virgin previously operated domestic flights in the UK known as Little Red. Photo: Aero Icarus

Virgin Australia's older brother in Europe has never had a fatal crash and is now owned 49% by America's Delta

United

United has not had a single crash in the last 20 years, apart from terrorism on September 11th, 2001.

Singapore Airlines

Singapore A350-900 — Singapore Airlines will replace SilkAir's Kolkata service with an additional A350 service of its own. Photo: Singapore Airlines

Voted the best airline in 2018 by Airlineratings.com and Skytrax, Singapore has not had an accident in 19 years.

Swiss International Airlines

Possible future Swiss aircraft. Source: Swiss

Swiss has not had any accidences since 2002 and is now part of the Lufthansa group.

SAS (Scandinavian Airlines)

Scandinavian Airlines is the national carrier of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and has not had a fatal crash since 2001.

Qatar Airways

Qatar has a perfect record of zero accidents (touch wood) and is a powerhouse in the aviation industry.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa, the national carrier of Germany, has not had any accidences since 1993.

KLM

KLM has 14 B747s left following this retirement. Photo: Andres Bolkenbaas/KLM

KLM is a partner airline of Air France, which unfortunately has had accidences in the last twenty years. However, KLM operates independently and has not suffered any problems for 40 years.

Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian staff wave goodbye to the B767. Photo: Hawaiian

Another perfect airline, Hawaiian has never had an accident, fatal or non-fatal.

Finnair

The national carrier of Finland has not suffered an accident since employing jet aircraft in the 1960s.

Eva Air

The Taiwan flag carrier has an almost perfect record and has been accident-free since 1988

Emirates

Emirates has only suffered one loss of an aircraft (a 777) which burst into flames at Dubai airport. However, everyone evacuated and no fatalities were recorded.

Cathay Pacific

seattle to asia flights — Cathay Pacific will operate flights to Seattle using the A350-900. Photo: Airbus

Cathay Pacific is another airline that has not suffered a loss since the 1960's.

British Airways

British Airways has not suffered an accident in 30 years.

Austrian Airlines

Another airline owned by Lufthansa (it seems that they share accident prevention principles), Austrian has not suffered any accidences since using an all-jet fleet.