Forbes Ranks The Safest Airline In The World

AirlineRatings.com rates the safety and in-flight products of 385 airlines using its unique seven-star rating system. In making its evaluation, the site considers a comprehensive range of factors, including serious incidents, recent fatal accidents, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, industry-leading safety initiatives, expert pilot training assessment, fleet age, and more.

However, the evaluation leaves out such things that airlines have no control over, such as bird strikes, turbulence injuries, weather diversions, and lightning strikes, according to Forbes.

Capturing the top spot for 2024 is Air New Zealand, which edged out the competition, setting a new benchmark in airline safety and operational excellence. Air New Zealand also won in 2022.

A new report has ranked the world's safest airlines for 2024. Photo: GETTY

Coming in second on the list is Qantas, which won in 2023—though, according to Thomas, the safety margin was very small between Air New Zealand and Qantas.

International carriers dominate the list of safest airlines. Regarding U.S. carriers, only one is on the top 10 list: Alaska Airlines, which comes in number 10. (The airline slipped two points from 2023 when it ranked number eight). Hawaiian Airlines ranks number 21—a big drop from 2023 when it was number 12. American Airlines ranks number 22 (down from number 19 in 2023) and United Airlines ranks number 25 (down from number 14 in 2023).

When it comes to the low-cost carriers, Jetstar—an Australian airline owned by Qantas—comes in number one. The top-ranking low-cost U.S. carrier is Frontier, which ranks number six beating out Southwest (at number nine), Sun Country (at number 14), Spirit (number 15), and JetBlue (number 17).

Vietjet has consistently received recognition in AirlineRating's ranking for several years, and the report said its recognition is a testament to the carrier's unwavering dedication to upholding flight safety, an indispensable standard in the aviation industry.

AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said Vietjet's dedication to maintaining a safety culture across all operations is commendable, especially when it is actively expanding the flight network. He added:

"The implementation of a robust safety management system and strict compliance with international regulations have contributed to the airline's excellent technical reliability indicators. This, in turn, ensures the highest level of safety of their operations over many years."

For the record, the Top 20 safest LCCS for 2024 as ranked by AirlineRatings (in order) 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.

Airlines are ranked on factors including incident records over the past two years, crash records over the past five years, results of audits conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), European Union banned lists, and fleet age. AirlineRatings also ranks airlines using a seven-star rating system, which rates the safety, inflight product, and COVID-19 compliance of 385 airlines, which has become the industry standard for passengers to compare safety ratings of airlines.

Vietjet appears at number 8 on the list of the top 20 safest low-cost airlines in the world in 2024. Photo: Vietjet Air

In addition to being rated number seven in the LCC airline safety rankings, Vietjet has also carried a seven-star rating, the highest safety rating in the world, since 2018. The airline recently added its 100th aircraft, a brand-new Airbus A321neo, which was immediately put to work on domestic and international routes, including the new route from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to Adelaide via Perth. It is also now flying alongside other new Airbus A321neos to India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

This continual renewal of the fleet is driving Vietjet's expansion across Southeast Asia. By adding more new aircraft, the average age of the fleet keeps dropping, while at the same the airline's carbon footprint is reducing due to the lower emissions of the new generation Airbus airplanes.

The airline has also invested heavily in training for all parts of its business, including pilots, cabin crew, and engineering personnel. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietjet Flight Academy, which Simple Flying visited in December and will soon report on, has been recognized as an official training partner of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to provide high-level aviation training throughout the region.

As it adds significant numbers of new aircraft every year, the Asian region urgently needs more maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capability, a lack of which slowed down returning the aircraft parked and stored during the pandemic. Vietjet and Lao Airlines have joined forces to operate an MRO center at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane (Laos), adding to both airline's engineering capacity as well as bringing more technical expertise into the developing region.

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