Qantas Yet Again Voted World’s Safest Airline for 2017

Qantas 787 Dreamliner. Credit Boeing

Australian carrier Qantas has been voted the safest airline for 2017 thanks to its fatality-free record as announced by AirlineRatings.com.

The world’s only safety and product rating website announced its top 20 safest airlines and top 10 safest low-cost airlines for 2017 from the 425 it monitors. Quantas made the top of list for the fourth year running, followed by (alphabetically) Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.

The AirlineRatings.com decision takes into account audits from aviation governing bodies and lead associations; government audits; airline’s crash and serious incident record; profitability and fleet age as well as airline fleet history and track record of initiating new safety technology.

The top 10 safest low-cost airlines are (alphabetically) Aer Lingus, Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Jetstar Asia, Thomas Cook, Virgin America, Vueling and Westjet.

According to the Netherlands-based Aviation Safety Network, 2016 was the second safest year ever by number of fatal accidents and in terms of fatalities.