Imagine the next time you want to take a plane trip, you open your phone or laptop and you see a list of all the airlines in the world. Which one do you think is the safest?
Of course, there are actually over a thousand factors you have to take into consideration when picking the safest airline, as your life is literally in their hands. But, if you are lucky enough to be able to choose, then this list is for you.
The experts at AirlineRatings.com have compiled a list of the world’s safest airlines for 2022. To determine the ranking of these airlines AirlineRatings.com looks at audits from four major bodies that all cover airline safety:
1. The International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), which has 1067 different criteria has dramatically reduced the number of accidents
2. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assesses airlines for operational safety, including their pilot training, the quality of their control systems and the level of oversight provided by their airline’s management.
3. The EU Blacklist looks at airlines banned in the European Union due to safety or regulatory concerns.
4. The AirlineRatings.com in collaboration with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) uses a Safety Audit Methodology blends these three audits with factors including airline’s crash over 5 years and serious incident record over two years, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, government audits, industry-leading safety initiatives, fleet age, COVID-19 safety protocols, operational innovation.
So Which Airlines Made The Cut?
Check out the list below, ranked from the highest safety rating to lower safety ratings.
- Air New Zealand
- Etihad Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
- SAS
- Qantas
- Alaska Airlines
- EVA Air
- Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines
- American Airlines
- Lufthansa /Swiss Group
- Finnair
- Air France/KLM Group
- British Airways
- Delta Air Lines
- United Airlines
- Emirates
This year, Air New Zealand took the first spot as the safest airline to travel with in 2022.
According to AirlineRatings.com, despite the young average fleet age of 6.8 years, Air New Zealand is one of the safest airlines in the world and this year, it has taken out the number one spot with a near perfect AirlineRatings.com seven-star safety rating.
“Throughout the pandemic, the whole Air New Zealand team has been focused on protecting the health and safety of our people, customers, and the wider New Zealand community. We were the first airline in the world to ask our customers flying on our domestic services to either be vaccinated or tested before boarding and come 1 February, will require all customers on our international services to be fully vaccinated too” said Air New Zealand’s chief executive, Greg Foran.
“Air New Zealand has excelled across the broad safety spectrum never losing sight of the smallest detail while caring for its flight crews who have worked under significant stress.” said Airlineratings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas.
If you already have a destination in mind with multiple airlines and you need to choose between them, take a look at https://www.airlineratings.com/safety-rating-tool/ and compare airlines of your choice.