The world's safest airline 2016 is Australia's Qantas for the
third consecutive year, according to AirlineRatings.com.
The website, which was launched in 2013, rated the 20 safest airlines along with the 10 safest low-cost airlines, as well.
"There is no question amongst the editors that Qantas remains a standout in safety enhancements and best practice,"
Geoffrey Thomas, editor of AirlineRatings.com, said in a statement. "It is extraordinary that Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years."
Other airlines ranking in the top 20 include Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia.
"The AirlineRatings.com top 20 have always been at the forefront of safety innovation and launching of new aircraft and these airlines have become a byword for excellence," the website's statement said.
The top 10 low-cost airlines list includes Aer Lingus, Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Thomas Cook, TUI Fly, Virgin America, Volaris, and Westjet.
"Unlike a number of low cost carriers, these airlines have all passed the stringent International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and have
excellent safety records," The West Australian said of the low-cost carriers.
AirlineRatings.com said that 407 airlines were surveyed in the study. It gave 148 airlines a top seven-star safety ranking, but nearly 50 have three stars or less. The website said that 10 airlines, which were not named, received one star and were located in Indonesia, Nepal, and Surinam.
CNN pointed out that two of the worst airline accidents that happened last year occurred in March with the budget carrier Germanwings and in August when a Russian Metrojet Airbus broke apart shortly after taking off from Egypt.
Pilot Andreas Lubitz was to blame for the Germanwings accident that killed 150 people in the French Alps while intelligence reports point to possible terrorism in the downing of the Russian Metrojet that killed 224, according to CNN.
AirlineRatings.com noted that, despite those incidents, 2015 airline fatalities (16 fatal accidents, 560 fatalities) were below the 10-year average and improved on 2014's total of 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities, per Aviation-Safety.net.