World’s Safest Airlines 2024 List Released by AirlineRatings

Photo source: Air New Zealand

Safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com has named Air New Zealand as its safest airline for 2024.

The flag carrier airline of New Zealand gained the top spot from last year’s winner Qantas by the narrowest of margins.

“Our Top Twenty-Five Safest Airlines are all standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation, and launching of new aircraft,” said AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas, adding that the safety margins between the top 25 airlines are very small.

“Between Air New Zealand and Qantas, there are only 1.5 points, it’s incredibly close,” he said.

In making its evaluation, AirlineRatings.com takes into account a comprehensive range of factors that include serious incidents, recent fatal accidents, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, profitability, industry-leading safety initiatives, expert pilot training assessment and fleet age.

However, the evaluation leaves out such things as bird strikes, turbulence injuries, weather diversions and lightning strikes as the airline has no control over such events.

In selecting Air New Zealand as the world’s safest airline for 2024, AirlineRatings.com editors noted that the airline has a “firm focus” on safety and has excelled across the broad safety spectrum right down to the smallest detail.

TOP 25 Safest airlines for 2024 (airlines with over 50 jet aircraft)

Photo source: Air New Zealand

The Top 25 Safest Airlines in ranking are Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates, All Nippon Airways, Finnair, Cathay Pacific Airways, Alaska Airlines, SAS, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, British Airways, Turkish Airlines,  TAP Air Portugal, Lufthansa/Swiss Group, KLM, Japan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Air France, Air Canada Group and United Airlines.

TOP 20 Safest Low-cost airlines for 2024 (airlines with over 50 jet aircraft)

Photo source: Jetstar

The Top 20 low-cost airlines for 2024 are Jetstar, easyjet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Norwegian, Frontier, Vueling, Vietjet, Southwest, Volaris, flydubai, AirAsia Group, Cebu Pacific, Sun Country, Spirit, Westjet, Jetblue, Air Arabia, Indigo and Eurowings.

“These airlines all have an excellent safety culture and low incident rates,“ Thomas said.