✈️ Top 10 safest airlines in the world in 2024 🛫

What is most important when traveling by air? Delicious and varied food on board? Comfortable chairs? Accuracy and punctuality of the carrier? All this undoubtedly affects the traveler’s mood and satisfaction with the flight. But hardly anyone would dare to argue that being at an altitude of 10,000 meters above the ground, the technical condition of the aircraft, the preparedness of the crew and compliance with safety rules are more important than the taste of the steak served to you. 

All these factors should not least influence the choice of carrier when booking tickets. So, which airlines can you absolutely trust with your life? We have prepared a rating of the safest carriers in the world. We remind you that the passenger also contributes a lot through his behavior to ensure that the flight goes smoothly. We talked about this here.

How is safety assessed?

The most famous airline safety rating belongs to AirlineRatings.com. Top people in the business world rely on it to make recommendations to their readers. For example, Forbes. Airline Ratings experts evaluate several factors in the performance of each of the 385 airlines on the list:

• Plane accidents in the last five years. Who can argue that it is most pleasant to fly on an airline that is not included in those. 
• Serious incidents within a two-year period. Among these are engine failure, emergency landing or damage to the skin.
• Results of inspections by aviation regulatory authorities. Experts evaluate the airline's compliance with safety rules and algorithms. And they may even revoke the certificate of authorization to fly if the rules are not followed. 

• Fleet: Older aircraft may have more wear and tear, increasing the risk of mechanical failure. A young fleet is often seen as a safety advantage. It's a paradox, but reputable airlines such as Lufthansa usually have older fleets of aircraft that are carefully maintained. While low-cost airlines prefer to take young aircraft that consume less fuel and do not need as much care. Hence the cheaper tickets. By the way, if you want to save on air tickets, read our tips here.
• Assessing pilot training: equipment in inexperienced hands loses its reliability. For many airlines, a pilot's diploma is not enough to hire one. And they place increased demands on length of service, retraining courses and health status. 
• COVID protocols. The pandemic has made its own adjustments to the concept of safety on board. Now companies are also assessed in terms of compliance with sanitary standards. 

So, which carrier best copes with such criteria?

1 Air New Zealand

What a pity that to fly on the safest airline in the world you have to travel to the other side of the world. At the same time, using the services of other, less safe carriers. 

But nothing can be done, Air New Zealand demonstrates the highest safety standards year after year. In 2023 she was second in the ranking, in 2022 – first, in 2021 – third. 

Paying tribute to the New Zealand winner, Geoffrey Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of Airline Ratings, says:

“Air New Zealand operates in some of the most challenging weather conditions that test pilots' skills… Wellington is one of the windiest airports in the world and Queenstown presents a huge navigation challenge.” 

Experts also note the technological effectiveness of the flagship of the New Zealand fleet. Air New Zealand continually strives to integrate innovation into its operations. 

2 Qantas

Air New Zealand's eternal rival for supremacy is Australia's Qantas, nicknamed the “Flying Kangaroo” because of the corresponding image on its tail. Yes, in order to check its safety, you will also have to make a lot of effort when getting to Australia. 

Qantas stands for time-tested quality. The company ranks third on the list of oldest in the world. And any traveler will be reassured by the fact that not a single Flying Kangaroo jet crashed. Therefore, Qantas is often considered the safest airline in the world.

The Australians were only one and a half points behind their island competitors. Before this, there were first places in the rankings in 2023 and 2021. Enough reason to trust.

3 Virgin Australia

And again the green continent. This time Virgin Australia, part of the Virgin family, which can also be found in Europe. 

The appearance of Virgin Australia at such a high place in the safety ranking is curious, if only because it is a budget airline. Apparently, it saves on many things, but not on the safety of its passengers. Since 2020, this airline has rarely left the top 10 safety rankings.    

4-6. Middle Eastern trio: Etihad, Qatar, Emirates

It would be very strange not to see the Middle Eastern giants from the United Arab Emirates (Etihad Airways and Emirates) and Qatar (Qatar Airways) in at least some top ranking of airlines. All of them are united by excellent quality of services, a modern fleet, exclusive offers for business travelers (we choose the best business class here) and, as it turns out, the highest safety standards.

Just like Virgin Australia, these airlines rarely leave the top ten. In 2023, for example, Etihad Airways was in third place, followed by Qatar, and Emirates was in seventh place. In 2021, Qatar Airways climbed to second place.

Based on a combination of various factors, such as passenger reviews, service satisfaction, convenience, punctuality and safety, Arab airlines always rank high in the rankings of another well-known consulting company, Skytrax. In 2023, Qatar Airways took second place in the World's Top 100 Airlines competition, and Emirates fourth.

Are you going to the UAE or Qatar? Be sure to read our guides to these countries.

7 All Nippon Airways (ANA)

From the Middle East to the Far East. In seventh place as the safest airline is the Japanese All Nippon Airways. Japanese pedantry, rigor and exactingness are bearing fruit in the field of air travel safety. 

The ANA has not had a fatal incident since 1971. And that one, a long time ago, happened due to confusion in the sky, and not technical problems. So we choose one of the best places with cherry blossoms and rush there.

How is the safety of European airlines?

Old Europe, although it sets the tone in creating safety rules, in reality is often inferior to Australian and Asian carriers. In the 2024 ranking, the Finnish national air carrier Finnair climbed the highest – eighth place. One of the oldest airlines in Europe (founded in 1923), there have been no serious accidents since 1989. What earned it a high 94.7% reliability rating from Information design experts.

In 11th place in the ranking is another Northern European representative – the Candidate SAS consortium. There is every reason to be confident in this airline, as it rarely leaves the top 20 safety rankings.

Places from 15th to 19th also went to Europeans. The highly rated British Airways, Turkish Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Lufthansa/Swiss Group and the Dutch KLM settled together there. Surprisingly, the least known of this list, Porto Gali TAP, ranked highest among Europeans in safety rankings in recent years: it took sixth place in 2023.

Are low-cost airlines safe?

On the one hand, as we wrote above, low-cost airlines almost always have a young fleet of aircraft, which is good. On the other hand, the management does not allow them to stand on the ground for an extra minute, saving on maintenance and pilot training. Which is a bit scary. But Airline Ratings assures: travel on the most popular low-cost airlines among Europeans, easy Jet, Ryanair and Wizz Air, is safe – in the 2024 reliability rating of low-cost companies they are ranked second, third and fourth in the world. Only Australian Jetstar is higher.