Despite some recent tragedies, air travel is still one of the safest forms of transportation around. According to Australian consumer-aviation website AirlineRatings.com, the world's airlines transported 3.6 billion passengers on 34 million flights in 2015.
AirlineRatings.com recently released a list of the 20 safest airlines selected from a pool of 407 carriers around the world. To compile its list, the website evaluated each airline based on its standing with international regulators, its fatality record over the past 10 years, its result from an International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety audit, and whether its country of origin conforms with the International Civil Aviation Organization's eight-point safety parameter. All of the airlines on this list passed those tests with flying colors.
The carriers on the list hail from Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe, with no carriers from Africa and South America making the cut. This top-20 includes only mainline carriers. Low-cost carriers such as JetBlue, Virgin America, Norwegian, and EasyJet were considered for a separate ranking.
AirlineRatings.com didn't list the final finishing order for places two to 20, but did crown a winner.
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Air New Zealand has made a fine recovery after a period of financial turmoil in the early 2000s. This renaissance culminated with AirlineRatings.com recently naming it the best airline in the world for the third year in a row. Air New Zealand has not suffered any significant incidents in the past couple of decades.
Singapore Airlines is universally lauded for its high-quality service and efficient operations. Skytrax named Singapore the second-best airline in the world. The Changi Airport-based carrier has been accident-free since 2000.
Finnair, Finland's national airline, doesn't get as much attention in the media as some of its Scandinavian counterparts. But don't discount the Helsinki-based carrier. It has one of the best safety records in the business and hasn't suffered any major accidents since the 1960s.
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