Is Your Favorite Airline Lying About Safety?

Flying is known to be the safest method of transportation. Airplanes are equipped with multiple backup systems and top-notch technology to mitigate the impacts of any potential failures to the best abilities possible. Since the aviation industry's key focus is safety, your chances of experiencing a plane crash are one in 1.2 million (0.0000833%), while dying from one is one in 11 million (0.00000909%). 

That is significantly lower than your chances of dying in a car accident, which is one in 5000 (0.02%). However, some airlines are substantially less safe than others, which you may want to remember when booking your next flight.

How Safety Rankings Work From Airline Ratings

When determining each airline's safety, several factors are ranked in the ranking of 385 different airlines. The analysis includes data from crashes, pilot-related incidents, pilot training, and audits for fleet age and performance from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

Airline Ratings also acknowledges factors outside of an airline's control when analyzing its safety record. Therefore, those factors are not considered in the rankings. Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas explained that "[a]ll airlines have incidents every day, and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues, not airline operational problems. It is the way the flight crew handles these incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one." Lumping incidents together can be misleading.

Based on Thomas's explanation, an accident such as JAL516 would not be factored into Japan Airlines' safety rank. The Airbus A350-900 collided with a smaller plane on the runway at Tokyo-Haneda (HND) and caught on fire. However, since the flight crew and passengers handled the incident well, there were zero casualties on the Japan Airlines flight. Geoffrey Thomas would most likely say that Japan Airlines separates itself as a good airline due to the flight crew's praise after handling the situation. 

Top 20 Safest Airlines

In 2023, Airline Ratings ranked the following as the safest airlines. Geoffrey Thomas believes that these airlines stand out in the industry, as safety is prioritized. They continued investing in pilot training and pouring resources to ensure stored aircraft were ready to fly after COVID-19. In fact, "the safety margins between these top 20 airlines are very small - they are all outstanding airlines." Keep in mind that this list only includes major airlines. Budget airlines such as Ryan Air, Spirit Airlines, and Fly Dubai ranked at the top for safety as well. 

1. Qantas
2. Air New Zealand 
3. Etihad 
4. Qatar Airways
5. Singapore Airlines
6. TAP Air Portugal
7. Emirates
8. Alaska Airlines
9. EVA Air
10. Virgin Australia
11. Cathay Pacific
12. Hawaiian Airlines
13. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
14. United Airlines
15. Lufthansa (plus Swiss Group)
16. Finnair
17. British Airways
18. KLM
19. American Airlines
20. Delta Air Lines

The Most Dangerous Airlines

Although Airline Ratings does not officially release a ranking or list for the most dangerous airlines, several have received one-star ratings. These airlines have also failed safety audits. Below is a ranking (not in order) of some of these airlines, which you may want to avoid, especially if you are afraid of flying. 

1. Nepal Airlines
2. Lion Air
3. Air Blue
4. Blue Wing
5. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)
6. Air Algerie
7. Yeti Airlines 
8. PNG Air
9. SCAT Airlines
10. Sriwijaya Air
11. Air Koryo
12. Smartavia Airlines
13. Ural Airlines
14. UT Air
15. Sudan Airways
16. NOK Air Thailand
17. Cubana Airlines
18. Iran Aseman Airlines
19. Buddha Air
20. Afghan Ariana Airlines