2025’s Safest Airlines: Who Soared and Who Slipped?

As in the world today passenger safety is the number one priority and airline reputations are linked directly to the integrity of its operations, AirlineRatings.com has released the Worlds Top 25 Safest Full-Service and Low-Cost Airlines of 2025. Based on the 385-carrier list, created out of a pool of international airlines, the list opens up a new dimension of viewing the area of aviation safety, as new entrants have made their way into the list and some big names have been eliminated.

Released on January 13, 2025, the rankings provide an invaluable source of information on the extent of measuring safety beyond visible surface perceptions taking into consideration a melange of operational performance, compliance, pilot training, incident handling. Leading the full service list, is the Air New Zealand, followed by Qantas, which is a neck-to-neck competition, depending on the age of the fleet and slight differences in scores.

Competitive Skies: Full-Service Airlines

The first three places full service carriers take the pace of the year:

• Air New Zealand – Regained the top spot, primarily due to having one of the youngest fleets in the skies.
• Qantas – A consistent front-runner, narrowly missed the top due to older aircraft.
• Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Emirates – Tied for third, showcasing near-identical records across safety metrics.
  

Key observations from this year’s list include:

• There was a major jump of Korean Air to top 10 depicting enhanced safety control plus performance on operations.
• Iberia and Vietnam Airlines made their debuts, and this was an indication that the world was getting increasingly more even in terms of its safety standards in aviation.
• The lack of Singapore Airlines and KLM, which can normally be referred to as stalwarts of the industry, was explained by recent accidents even though both airlines had a perfect safety rating.

Budget Flyers: Low-Cost Leaders

In the low cost front HK Express was voted a surprise hero as the airline is touted to boast an incident record that is completely clean and safety compliance is top notch. Jetstar, Ryanair, and easyJet were other major low-cost carriers, which ensured they ranked on the top list because of regular safety inspections and procedures used in training their pilots.

Newcomers like Jet2, ZipAir and Air Baltic also diversified the low-cost index, but this shows that safety breakthroughs are now not just a retainer of legacy airlines.

Still, the Spirit Airlines was a notable exception, since it declared bankruptcy via Chapter 11 in late 2024, proving once again that fiscal wellbeing is closely related to stability of operations and understanding of safety.

Beyond the Rankings: How Airlines Are Graded

The polls are not like those in the public or customer reviews, since they are compiled using a combination of quantitative information and professional consultation. AirlineRatings.com works also with check pilots and aviation experts evaluating airlines as per a variety of sighting indicators:

• Number of serious incidents in the past two years
• Fleet age and size
• Fatalities history
• Profitability and financial stability
• IOSA certification and ICAO audit scores
• Pilot training and response to incidents

The context in which incidents occur is equally important. All other things being equal a big airline with hundreds of flights per day is likely to experience more incidences in raw numbers, but proportionally less than a small airline. Moreover, the fact that airlines even react to emergencies, as was the case of Flight 516 in the case of JAL, can promote their overall safety image instead of harming it.

Notably, most accidents in 2024 had nothing to do with the error on the part of the airline but with the defects of the aircraft manufacturing. Lapse in aircraft construction and not operational failure was the highlight of the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 that suffered cabin depressurization as a result of plugging a door. Where this occurs AirlineRatings.com will check if the airline conducted according to the maintenance procedures and took appropriate measures.

A Safer Skies Initiative

As the calls of transparency continue to intensify, AirlineRatings.com in a bid to create a new flight booking site have teamed up with Skyscanner to design a site that weighs safety on par with fare and time of travel. This utility makes it possible to find passengers who are concerned with the security of their travels when booking their trips, an innovative change in the paradigm of selecting the airline.

Nonetheless, even though the number of people dying in a plane disaster increased dramatically in late 2024, flying is still statistically safe. The statistical probability of airline fatal crashes worldwide, in the given period of 2018 through to 2022, is 1: 13.7 million in the flights that were boarded. Indicatively, WHO estimates more than 1.19 million persons dying annually by road-indicative of how safe commercial carriers have become.

Through this pandemic and into the mix of operating in the new normal of the aviation industry, the 2025 safety rankings demonstrates a bigger picture one can note that safe, transparent and financially sound unicorns and mini unicorn airlines appear to be the new standard of global travel.