Asia Pacific home to world’s safest airlines

The Asia Pacific region is home to the world’s safest airlines, according to a new report.

The annual study by the airlineratings.com, which monitors the performance of almost 450 global carriers, found that six of the world’s 10 safest airlines are based in the Asia Pacific region, with a further three located in the Middle East. Virgin Atlantic was the only non-Asian airline to make the top 10.

Qantas, which has a fatality-free record in the jet era (since 1951), topped the rankings. Nine other carriers achieved seven stars for safety: Air New Zealand, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Eva Air, Royal Jordanian, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Despite this, many of the world’s air incidents in 2013 involved Asia Pacific-based airlines. These included the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco Airport in July and the tragedy involving a Lao Airlines aircraft in October.

But according to Geoffrey Thomas, editor of airlineratings.com, Qantas remains a leader in terms of aviation safety. “There is no question that Qantas stands alone in its safety achievements and is an industry benchmark for best practice,” said Thomas.

At the other end of the scale, several airlines only achieved one or two stars for safety in the airlineratings.com study. These included Afghanistan’s Kam Air, Scat of Kazakhstan, Myanmar’s Air Bagan, and three Indonesian carriers: Lion Air, Merpati Airlines and Susi Air.