For travellers out there who find flying quite an anxiety-inducing way to get from A to B, you might find a little comfort in brushing up on the world’s safest airlines. 

AirlineRatings.com produces a list of the safest full-service and low-costs airlines every year, which looks into everything from the fleet age and size to the rate of incidents, fatalities and the skills and training of the pilots. 

Topping the list for full-service airlines is Air New Zealand, which, according to the ranking, upholds the highest safety standards and pilot training across its young fleet of planes. 

Only 1.5 points behind in second place is Qantas, and in joint third it’s Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Emirates

But if you usually fly with low-cost operators, there’s a ranking of those, too. In first place for the budget airlines is Hong Kong Express, which has not had any serious incidents this year, maintaining an almost perfect safety record. 

Jetstar Group and Ryanair claim second and third place, and new additions to this list for 2025 include Zipair, Jet2 and Air Baltic.  

These are the world’s safest full-service airlines

  1. Air New Zealand
  2. Qantas
  3. Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Emirates
  4. Virgin Australia
  5. Etihad Airways
  6. ANA
  7. EVA Air
  8. Korean Air
  9. Alaska Airlines
  10. Turkish Airlines (THY)
  11. TAP Portugal
  12. Hawaiian Airlines
  13. American Airlines
  14. SAS
  15. British Airways
  16. Iberia
  17. Finnair
  18. Lufthansa/Swiss
  19. JAL
  20. Air Canada
  21. Delta Airlines
  22. Vietnam Airlines
  23. United Airlines

These are the world’s safest budget airlines

  1. Hong Kong Express
  2. Jetstar Group
  3. Ryanair
  4. easyJet
  5. Frontier Airlines
  6. AirAsia
  7. Wizz Air
  8. VietJet Air
  9. Southwest Airlines
  10. Volaris
  11. flydubai
  12. Norwegian
  13. Vueling
  14. Jet2
  15. Sun Country Airlines
  16. WestJet
  17. JetBlue Airways
  18. Air Arabia
  19. IndiGo
  20. Eurowings
  21. Allegiant Air
  22. Cebu Pacific
  23. ZipAir
  24. SKY Airline
  25. Air Baltic

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