The world’s safest airlines

Posted 16 January, 2025 Jeremy Rochow

Two Australian airlines have landed in the world’s top 10 safest full-service airlines.

Qantas ranked second, only just beaten by Air New Zealand, while Virgin Australia placed fourth in the list of top 25 safest airlines for 2025 by Airlineratings.com – an airline safety and product review site – in early January.

Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Emirates tied for third place in the rankings.

Airlineratings.com CEO Sharon Petersen says the race for top spot was close between Air New Zealand and Qantas, 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,” Sharon says.

“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.”

Notable absences this year included Singapore Airlines and KLM, however Sharon says that while these airlines are safe and retained their seven-star safety rating, they narrowly missed out due to incidents in 2024.

Iberia and Vietnam Airlines made their list debut while Korean Air placed in the top 10 for the first time.

The top 25 full-service airlines for 2025

1. Air New Zealand
2. Qantas
3. Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates
4. Virgin Australia
5. Etihad Airways
6. ANA
7. EVA Air
8. Korean Air
9. Alaska Airlines
10. Turkish Airlines (THY)
11. TAP Portugal
12. Hawaiian Airlines
13. American Airlines
14. SAS
15. British Airways
16. Iberia
17. Finnair
18. Lufthansa/Swiss
19. JAL
20. Air Canada
21. Delta Airlines
22. Vietnam Airlines
23. United Airlines

Low-cost airlines

Hong Kong Express claimed top spot for the 25 safest low-cost airlines for 2025 while Jetstar and Ryanair were named second and third respectively.

The Hong Kong based airline has not had any serious incidents and maintains a relatively flawless safety record. New additions to the list included Zipair, Jet2 and Air Baltic.

Top 25 safest low-cost airlines for 2025 

1. Hong Kong Express
2. Jetstar Group
3. Ryanair
4. easyJet
5. Frontier Airlines
6. AirAsia
7. Wizz Air
8. VietJet Air
9. Southwest Airlines
10. Volaris
11. flydubai
12. Norwegian
13. Vueling
14. Jet2
15. Sun Country Airlines
16. WestJet
17. JetBlue Airways
18. Air Arabia
19. IndiGo
20. Eurowings
21. Allegiant Air
22. Cebu Pacific
23. ZipAir
24. SKY Airline
25. Air Baltic