AirlineRatings.com Names Qantas the Safest Airline in the World

6th Jan 2017

The world's only airline safety and product rating agency AirlineRatings.com named yesterday Qantas the world's safest airline. This is the fourth time the largest carrier in Australia received that accolade since 2013 when AirlineRatings.com was launched.

Qantas was picked as the safest from a total of 425 airlines AIrlineRatings.com tracks. The rating agency yesterday named a top 20 list of the world's safest airlines as well as a top 10 list for safest low-cost carriers.

In addition to Qantas, AirlineRatings.com also included Virgin Australia on its list when it comes to Australian airlines for its top 20 safest airlines list and Jetstar Australia on its top 10 safest LCC list.

Air New Zealand, British Airways and Singapore Airlines also made the top 20 world's safest airlines list, while Jetstar Asia was included in the top 10 safest low-cost carrier list.

Explaining their decision to put Qantas on top spot, AirlineRatings.com editors pointed out that the carrier had gathered an "extraordinary record of firsts in operations and safety" in its 96 year history.

Over the past 60 years, AirlineRatings.com editors said, Qantas has been at the forefront of almost every major airline safety improvement.

In addition, Qantas is also one of the few airlines in the world included in the design process of both American Boeing and French Airbus. The carrier is included in the design processes of many new planes coming from these two aircraft manufacturers, including Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.

AirlineRatings.com also identified the top 10 world's least safe carriers. The rating agency included the following on the list:

1 Ariana Afghan Airways from Afghanistan

2 Daalo Airlines from Djibouti

3 Bluewing Airlines from Suriname

4 Wings Air from Indonesia

5 Trigana Air Service from Indonesia

6 Sriwijaya Air from Indonesia

7 Yeti Airlines from Nepal

8 Tara Air from Nepal

9 Nepal Air

10 Budda Air from Nepal

The rating system used by AirlineRatings.com is endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It considers a wide range of audits from aviation governing bodies, the EU blacklist, airline fatality records and more.