When travelling, the last thing anyone wants to be concerned about is whether or not they will get to their destination safely. However, there are always potential dangers when travelling — whether you’re flying or taking a car. One way to reduce those risks is by choosing a secure airline. Luckily, there are resources to help identify which airlines are safer to fly with.
After keeping tabs on more than 400 airlines, AirlineRatings.com annually compiles a list of the safest airlines in the world. AirlineRatings.com uses a variety of measures to determine the world’s safest airlines, including:
- Crashes over five years
- Serious incidents over two years
- Audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations
- Fleet age
- Expert analysis of pilot training
- COVID-19 protocols
The three safest airlines for 2023
According to data, Qantas is the safest airline in the world. The most popular airline in Australia came in first, beating out the previous year’s victor, Air New Zealand, which came in second this year.
Having flown for a century, Qantas has been deemed the most experienced airline by AirlineRatings.com. After falling to the seventh position last year in the wake of a catastrophic disaster, Qantas beat more than 384 carriers throughout the world to reclaim the top rank.
Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates‘ second-largest airline after Emirates, came in third, followed by Qatar Airways, and then Singapore Airlines.
The top 20 safest airlines in the world in 2023 are:
- Qantas
- Air New Zealand
- Etihad Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Emirates
- Alaska Airlines
- EVA Air
- Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic
- Cathay Pacific
- Hawaiian Airlines
- SAS
- United Airlines
- Lufthansa/Swiss Group
- Finnair
- British Airways
- KLM
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
The aviation safety website also published an enhanced list of the top 20 low-cost airlines in 2023 this year. Those airlines are (in alphabetical order) Air Arabia, AirAsia Group, Allegiant, Air Baltic, Easyjet, FlyDubai, Frontier, Jetstar Group, Jetblue, Indigo, Ryanair, Scoot, Southwest, Spicejet, Spirit, Vueling, Vietjet, Volaris, Westjet, and Wizz.
