Significant changes from last year's list include Iberia and Vietnam Airlines making their debut in the rankings and Korean Air rising into the top ten. Singapore Airlines and KLM did not make this year's list due to recent incidents despite maintaining high safety ratings.
In the low-cost category, Hong Kong Express topped the list without any serious incidents reported. New entries include Zipair, Jet2, and Air Baltic. Spirit Airlines was notably absent after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2024.
AirlineRatings.com uses several criteria to evaluate airline safety including serious incidents over two years, fleet age and size, incident rates, fatalities, profitability, IOSA certification status, ICAO country audit pass results as well as pilot skill and training.
Petersen emphasized that financial instability or being at fault for a crash automatically disqualifies an airline from consideration. The handling of incidents is also crucial; effective management can enhance an airline's safety profile.
An example provided was JAL Flight 516's crash at Haneda Airport last year where crew expertise prevented disaster: "The crew applied their rigorous training effectively... In less capable hands this incident might have resulted in disaster."
Manufacturing issues are often responsible for many incidents rather than operational errors. Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced rapid cabin depressurization due to manufacturing defects highlighting lapses in Boeing’s quality control processes.
Despite concerns about air travel safety following over 200 fatalities in December 2024 alone compared to IATA's record of 72 deaths in 2023; flying remains relatively safe according to studies showing global death risk per flight boarding between 2018-2022 at one in 13.7 million compared with WHO estimates on road accidents resulting in more than two deaths per minute globally during that period.
To aid passengers further AirlineRatings has partnered with Skyscanner launching a flight booking platform allowing searches based on safety alongside price/duration enhancing passenger confidence through informed choices available here online now since its development back when launched initially back around late early part last decade sometime earlier past few years ago prior recently before now...
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