Amid all the recent headlines about airline accidents abroad and some troubling incidents closer to home, it’s easy to forget that commercial air travel has never been safer.
True, 2024 was the worst year for air safety since 2018, largely due to the high death toll in one accident—the crash of a Jeju Air 737 in Muan, South Korea, on December 29, which killed 179 out the 181 people aboard. The accident is under investigation and the high casualty rate was likely due to an unusual confluence of factors, which is why experts caution against drawing sweeping conclusions based on a single year. Any analysis must take in a myriad of factors. In another fatal accident on Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Air flight was reportedly downed by Russian air defense systems over Kazakhstan. Remarkably, 29 out of the 67 passengers and crew survived, but it nonetheless raised questions about the risks to civilian aircraft flying into conflict zones.
That said, fatal air crashes are still extremely rare, thanks in large part to major improvements in technology and crew training over the years (often prompted by major accidents, such as TWA 800 in 1996 and Air France 447 in 2009).
Last year, there were 11 fatal air accidents, with a total of 318 people killed, among the nearly 37 million flights that criss-crossed the globe. That is up from 2023, one of the safest years for flying in history, with only one fatal crash involving a turboprop plane in which 72 people perished. But it is still far less than the 556 people who perished in commercial airline crashes in 2018.
And when compared with driving, air travel is hands down the safer way to get from point A to point B. In 2024, there were approximately 34,000 deaths from road accidents in the USA alone.
John Cox, CEO of aviation consulting firm Safety Operating Systems and a longtime pilot, says a culture of strong government oversight is essential when evaluating an airline’s overall record. “Pick your airline carefully,” he says. “Just because the fare is low, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.”
Indeed, not all airlines and governments have the same high level of vigilance when it comes to safety practices. For those who want to ensure they’re flying with the safest carrier, here’s how the world’s airlines stack up.
How the world’s safest airlines are ranked
Each year, the Australian aviation safety and product review site AirlineRatings.com ranks the safest airlines based on a seven-point rating system. The company monitors 385 airlines worldwide and its methodology considers factors that include accidents that have occurred in the past five years, serious incidents (those with the potential for a catastrophic outcome) in the past two years, public and private safety audits, and the age of the fleet. Each airline is rated on a scale of one to seven “stars”; a carrier’s ranking also considers the number of passengers flown and the number of sectors (each takeoff and landing), which tends to favor airlines that operate a high proportion of long-haul flights.
In 2025, the world’s safest airlines ranking is once again topped by two antipodean champs, Air New Zealand, which claims the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row, and Australian flag carrier Qantas (which has ranked No. 1 in 7 out of the past 11 years, with the rankings dating back to 2013). Of the top 25, five are U.S. airlines, with the rest hailing from Canada, Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. There’s also a separate list for low-cost carriers, which this year includes five U.S. companies as well, including JetBlue and Southwest.
The world’s 25 safest airlines
- Air New Zealand
- Qantas
- Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates (three-way tie)
- Virgin Australia
- Etihad Airways
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- EVA Air
- Korean Air
- Alaska Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Hawaiian Airlines
- American Airlines
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
- British Airways
- Iberia
- Finnair
- Lufthansa/Swiss
- Japan Airlines (JAL)
- Air Canada
- Delta Air Lines
- Vietnam Airlines
- United Airlines
The 25 safest low-cost airlines
- Hong Kong Express
- Jetstar Group
- Ryanair
- EasyJet
- Frontier Airlines
- AirAsia
- Wizz Air
- VietJet Air
- Southwest Airlines
- Volaris
- Flydubai
- Norwegian
- Vueling
- Jet2
- Sun Country Airlines
- WestJet
- JetBlue Airways
- Air Arabia
- IndiGo
- Eurowings
- Allegiant Air
- Cebu Pacific
- ZipAir
- SKY Airline
- Air Baltic
So, what does this all mean for consumers? Even representatives at Airline Ratings concede that the differences among airlines when it comes to safety can be minuscule. After all, most major global airlines—not just those that make the top 25—typically score seven stars overall, with other details, such as the age of the fleet, ultimately influencing where the carrier lands on the list.
And while the list tends to mostly feature the same airlines from year to year, there were two new carriers on the top 25 list this year, Iberia and Vietnam Airlines, and two surprising absences, Singapore Airlines and KLM. Airline Ratings CEO Sharon Petersen noted that while the latter two carriers “remain exceptionally safe and retain their seven-star safety rating, they just narrowly missed out on a spot this year due to incidents that occurred,” including a severe episode of turbulence aboard Singapore Airlines.
And an airline can be excluded for a variety of reasons: On the low-cost list, for example, Spirit Airlines, which has a rating of seven stars, was missing from the budget airline roster because it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2024 to restructure its finances.
Consumers are advised to check each individual carrier’s ranking at airlineratings.com/airlines to see where their airline stands and to be able to make an informed decision about flight safety.
This story was originally published in November 2023 and was updated on January 17, 2025, to include current information.
