Top 10 Safest Airlines In The World

AirlineRatings.com just released its top 20 safest airlines in the world for 2020. I’ve decided to highlight the top ten because, let's face it...your time is valuable.  

Incidentally, according to their site, Airlineratings.com delivers expert safety ratings for more than 435 airlines around the world. 230 of the airlines featured on their site carry 99 percent of the world’s passengers. And in case you were wondering, according to a quick google search, there are about 5,000–5,500 airlines in the world, as this is the number ICAO/IATA airline codes in current circulation. In terms of commercial airlines, there are between 770 and 800 commercial airlines globally operating scheduled flights (that are officially recognized). You can read more about how their scoring and rating criteria which generated this list with the link below.

But a quick note if you are a little anxious about flying. Over at MIT, Dr. Arnold Barnett, has been doing some extensive research on airline safety. He found that over the fifteen years (between 1975 and 1994) the death risk per flight was one in seven million. This statistic is the probability that someone who randomly selected one of the airline's flights over the 19-year study period would be killed en route. That means, that any time you board a flight on a major carrier in the United States, your chance of being in a fatal accident is one in seven million. It doesn't matter whether you fly once every three years or every day of the year. Based on this incredible safety record, if you did fly every day of your life, it would take you about nineteen thousand years before you would succumb to a fatal accident. Nineteen thousand years! You can read more about safe flying here with this fascinating article from anxieties.com. But I digress. 
 
So here the top ten safest airlines for 2020:  

10. Virgin Australia
9. Cathay Pacific Airways
8. Alaska Airlines
7. Emirates
6. Singapore Airlines
5. Qatar Airways
4. Etihad
3. EVA Air
2. Air New Zealand
1. Qantas

It’s worth noting that Hawaiian Airlines (one of two that made the top 20) came in at number 11. No other US carriers made the top 20. That’s not to say those airlines aren’t safe. I fly domestically a lot on US carriers. I fly Delta, American and United the most (in that order) and low-cost airlines Allegiant and JetBlue. If you’d like more information on each airline, then please feel free to click on the links to the Travel University section of my site. Knowledge is power, people! 

What airline do you (or do you not) fly and why? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. And please share this article. Every click helps. 

Happy Travels!
Erik