How safe is your airline?

This week has seen AirlineRatings  publish their annual report on the safest airlines to travel with which I am pleased to say features a number of UK low cost airlines in the top 10, although our scheduled carriers do not do so well.

ArelineRatings.com rating system takes into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and the airline’s fatality record.

In terms of the safest airline Qantas came out on top for the third year running and have a fatality free record. Air New Zealand came second and Alaska Airlines third. Virgin Atlantic were the only British Airline to feature in the list of the top 20 full service carriers.

The full list in alphabetical order is Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia. 

Low Cost Airlines are rated separately and AirlineRatings.com have listed the top 10 airlines. Aer Lingus came out top with Thomas Cook, Flybe and Tui Fly all being listed. All of these airlines have passed  the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) which has stringent rules and is not compulsary for low cost carriers. They all have excellent safety records. 

Last year saw a number of of high fatality accidents and incidents such as the GermanWings disaster where it appears that the captain deliberately flew the plane into a mountain. Worldwide there were 16 accidents and 570 fatalities, however this was an improvement on 2014 which saw 21 accidents and 986 fatalities. Lets hope 2016 continues the improved safety trend.