18 February 2025

Air NZ beats Qantas to claim world’s safest airline title

Air New Zealand has been named world’s Safest Full-Service Airlines for 2025 leaving Qantas in the close second position.

The announcement was made by the Australian-based world’s only airline safety and product rating agency, Airline Ratings.

According to Airline Ratings CEO, Sharon Petersen, “It was extremely close again between Air New Zealand and Qantas for first place with only 1.50 points separating the two airlines. Whilst both airlines uphold the highest safety standards and pilot training,  Air New Zealand continue to have a younger fleet than Qantas which separates the two.”

Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Emirates shared the third place in the top 25 list.

Air NZ named as safest airline

“The three-way tie for third place was because we simply could not separate these airlines. From fleet age to pilot skill, safety practices, fleet size, and number of incidents, their scores were identical,” says Petersen.

Notable absences this year in the top 25 safety rankings are Singapore Airlines and KLM. Petersen emphasised that while 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.

In the category of Safest-Low Cost Airlines, Hong Kong Express was the first, followed by Jetstar Group.

The airlines are graded on measures such as serious incidents over past two years, fleet age, rate of incidents, fatalities, pilot training, etc. and in consultations with check pilots and aviation experts.

Flying, nowadays, is considered very safe. A recent airline safety study revealed that between 2018 and 2022, the global death risk per flight boarding was approximately one in 13.7 million. In comparison, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 1.19 million fatalities from road accidents in 2023, equating to more than two deaths per minute.

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