World's safest airline: Air New Zealand takes first place on the annual list of the safest airlines around the globe from AirlineRatings.com.
2. Etihad Airways: The second flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates comes in second place on the list, which monitors 385 airlines around the world.
3. Qatar Airways: The state-owned flag carrier of Qatar, which is headquartered in Doha, is at number three.
4. Singapore Airlines: The flag carrier airline of Singapore is ranked in fourth place on the AirlineRatings.com list.
5. TAP AIR Portugal: The flag carrier airline of Portugal rounds out the top five. "The last two years have been extremely difficult for airlines with Covid-19 slashing travel and Airline Ratings editors have particularly focused on the lengths airlines are undertaking to re-train pilots ahead of a return to service," says Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com.
6. SAS: Scandinavian Airlines, one of the largest carriers in Scandinavia, takes the number six spot.
7. Qantas: Last year's number one takes seventh place this time due to a "slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age."
8. Alaska Airlines: Alaska Airlines is ranked the eight safest airline in the world for 2022.
9. EVA Air: The Taiwanese international airline is ninth on the list.
10. Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic: The British airline rounds out the top 10.
11. Cathay Pacific Airways: The flag carrier of Hong Kong is at number 11 this year. The airline has recently reduced its services due to Covid restrictions on traveling to Hong Kong.
12. Hawaiian Airlines: The Honolulu-based airline is 12th on the list.
13. American Airlines: Currently the world's largest carrier, American Airlines is ranked the 13th safest airline in the world.
14. Lufthansa: German carrier Lufthansa holds the 14th spot on the annual safety table.
15. Finnair: Finland's largest airline and the country's flag carrier is at number 15 on the list.
16. KLM: Dutch carrier KLM, the world's oldest operating airline, comes in 16th place.
17. British Airways: The UK flag carrier is ranked the 17th safest airline on the globe by AirlineRatings.com.
18. Delta Air Lines: Named the world's best performing airline in 2021 by aviation analytics firm Cirium, Delta Air Lines is in 18th place.
19. United Airlines: United is the last of a number of US airlines to feature on the list, coming in at number 19.
20. Emirates: The UAE-based airline, which was founded in 1985, rounds out the top 20 on the list from AirlineRatings.com.
Airline Ratings safe airlines list for 2022
CNN —
The past year has proved to be yet another incredibly difficult one for airlines as the slump in air travel continued throughout 2021 due to the impact of the ongoing pandemic.
Even now, two years after Covid-19 was first brought to the world’s attention, there are still far fewer flights and passengers taking to the skies
The virus has also continued to dominated conversations around air safety, leading to some significant changes in the annual list of the world’s safest airlines from AirlineRatings.com, an airline safety and product review website.
This year, Air New Zealand has come out on top on the annual safety table, which monitors 385 carriers from across the globe, measuring factors such as the airlines’ crash and serious incident records, the age of their aircraft, as well as Covid-19 protocols and operational innovation.
Top ranking
Qantas has lost the top spot on AirlineRatings.com's list of the world's safest airlines.
The flag carrier airline for New Zealand was awarded first place “due to its excellent incident record, number of co*ckpit innovations, pilot training and very low fleet age,” according to Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of the Australian-based website.
Etihad Airways took second place, while Qatar Airways came in third, with Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal achieving fourth and fifth place respectively.
Noticeably missing from the top five is Qantas, which held the title of world’s safest airline from 2014 to 2017, as well as 2019 to 2021 (no clear winner could be found in 2018).
Australia’s flag carrier takes seventh place this time due to a “slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age.”
In October 2021, a Qantas Boeing traveling from the Australian city of Perth to Adelaide in Western Australia was diverted due to a fuel imbalance, in an occurrence classified as a “serious incident.”
“The last two years have been extremely difficult for airlines with Covid-19 slashing travel and Airline Ratings editors have particularly focused on the lengths airlines are undertaking to retrain pilots ahead of a return to service,” explains Thomas.
“Air New Zealand is a leader in this field with comprehensive retraining.”
Safety advancements
UAE carrier Emirates was 20th on the list, which monitors 385 carriers from across the globe.
The airline also received praise for being a world leader in operational safety advancements over the past four decades.
Its various initiatives include recently becoming one of the first airlines in the world to trial the use of Assaia Apron AI technology to improve its aircraft turn times.
“Air New Zealand has excelled across the broad safety spectrum never losing sight of the smallest detail while caring for its flight crews who have worked under significant stress,” Thomas tells CNN Travel.
On some occasions, AirlineRatings has chosen to simply name its winner, before listing the rest of the top airlines alphabetically.
But the website has recently opted to rank each of the top 20 airlines in numerical order, revealing some significant movement from year to year.
For example, Emirates was at number five on the 2021 list, but the UAE airline has been listed at 20th place this year, while Southwest Airlines was ranked 13th in 2021, but is not included in the new top 20 for 2022.
AirlineRatings.com has also produced a list of the world’s safest budget airlines, which are listed alphabetically as they are ranked equally, once again.
The top 10 safest low-cost airlines are: Allegiant Air, easyJet, Frontier Airlines, Jetstar Group, Jetblue, Ryanair, Vietjet Air, Volaris, Westjet and Wizz Air.
AirlineRatings.com’s safest airlines for 2022:
1. Air New Zealand
2. Etihad Airways
3. Qatar Airways
4. Singapore Airlines
5. TAP Air Portugal
6. SAS
7. Qantas
8. Alaska Airlines
9. EVA Air
10. Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic
11. Cathay Pacific Airways
12. Hawaiian Airlines
13. American Airlines
14. Lufthansa
15. Finnair
16. KLM
17. British Airways
18. Delta Air Lines
19. United Airlines
20. Emirates
