Following our previous blog about the apparently most dangerous airlines to travel with, the Air Transport Rating Agency has published its list of the safest airlines in the world. So it now begs the question What is the safest airline to fly with

undefined

The Top Ten Safest Airlines to Fly With?

The Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) are more rigorous in their evaluation of airlines compared to askmen.com and assess airlines on a range of criteria including average age of fleet, technical issues, pilot training and organisational problems. From their research they have listed the top ten safest airlines (by alphabetical order) as:

• Air France-KLM
• AMR Corporation (American Airlines, American Eagles)
• British Airways
• Continental Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines
• US Airways

List of the Safest Airlines

Although a greater amount of research and real-world factors were taken on board when ATRA compiled their list (AskMen purely rank airlines by accident record to passengers) it’s interesting to compare it to the AskMen one. Their list of the safest airlines was:

• No.10 Cathay Pacific
• No.9 TAP Portugal
• No.8 Aerolineas Argentinas
• No.7 Air New Zealand
• No.6 Aer Lingus
• No.5 Finnair
• No.4 Qantas
• No.3 All Nippon Airways
• No.2 Air Canada
• No.1 British Airways

So British Airways clearly have a record to be proud of, and are continuing to be at the forefront when it comes to airline safety. Of course, Raymond Babitt in Rain Man famously exclaimed Qantas to be the safest of airlines, but he may have to reconsider - the Australian airline doesn’t appear in the 2011 ATRA top ten.