Our national carrier has been named the world’s safest airline, in AirlineRatings.com’s Top 25 safest full-service airlines thanks to its fresh fleet.
Air New Zealand was up against 385 other airlines to claim the win, followed by QF in second, and Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Emirates tying for third.
AirlineRatings.com ceo Sharon Petersen says it was extremely close again between NZ and QF for first place with only 1.50 points separating the pair. “Whilst both airlines uphold the highest safety standards and pilot training, NZ continues to have a younger fleet than QF which separates the two.”
Speaking on the three-way tie for 3rd, Peterson says it could not separate these airlines. “From fleet age to pilot skill, safety practices, fleet size, and number of incidents, their scores were identical.”
Virgin Australia and Etihad sat in fourth and fifth, followed by ANA, EVA Air, Korean Air, Alaska Airlines and Turkish Airlines. In the top 25 was TAP Portugal, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, SAS, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Lufthansa/Swiss, JAL, Air Canada, Delta Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and United Airlines.
Singapore Airlines and KLM did not make the top 25. Petersen says these airlines 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.
. . . Low Cost
As for the 2025 safest low-cost airlines, Hong Kong Express took out top spot, with Jetstar Group in 2nd and Ryanair, easyJet and Frontier Airlines in the top five.
AirAsia, Wizz Air, VietJet Air, Southwest Airlines and Volaris make up the top 10, followed by flydubai, Norwegian, Vueling, Jet2, Sun Country Airlines, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Air Arabia, IndiGo, Eurowings, Allegiant, Cebu Pacific, ZipAir, SKY Airline and Air Baltic. Overall, between 2018 and 2022, the global death risk per flight boarding was approx. one in 13.7 million.
