World's Safest Airlines List 2015: Qantas, With 'Fatality-Free Record,' Tops List
Qantas has topped the list of world's safest airlines released by a website. AirlineRatings.com, which claims that it is the "world's only safety and product rating website," released the list of top 10 safest airlines and top 10 safest low-cost airlines for 2015 among the 449 airlines the site monitors.
Based on its seven safety rating criteria, the website said Qantas "has a fatality-free record in the jet era."
The other airlines in the Top 10 are Air New Zealand, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
In addition, the website named the Top 10 safest low-cost airlines as Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, Icelandair, Jetblue, Jetstar, Kulula.com, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly and Westjet.
"AirlineRatings.com's rating system takes into account a range of factors related to audits from aviation's governing bodies such as the FAA and ICAO as well as government audits and the airline's fatality record," the website said.
It said the Top 10 low-cost airlines "have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) audit and have excellent safety records."
Out of the 449 airlines surveyed, 149 have top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 have three stars or less, it said.
Kam Air, Nepal Airlines, Scat and Tara Air achieved only one star for safety based on the survey.
Qantas was chosen by the website editors as it "has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in safety and operations and is now accepted as the world's most experienced airline."
The website added that Qantas "has been a leader in the development of the Future Air Navigation System; the Flight Data Recorder to monitor plane and later crew performance; automatic landings using Global Navigation Satellite System as well as precision approaches around mountains in cloud using RNP."
It added that 2014 was a bad year for airline safety with 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities. World airlines carried 3.3 billion passengers on 27 million flights in 2014.
Meanwhile, actor John Travolta, Qantas ambassador, celebrates the unveiling of the airlines "retro" inspired livery in one of its brand new Boeing 737 aircraft