Hawaiian Airlines is the largest airline in Hawaii. It is the eighth largest commercial airline in the US, and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

• Hawaiian Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• KLM
• Lufthansa
• Scandinavian Airline System

(Photo: David J. Phillip/AP Photo)

• Singapore Airlines
• Swiss
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Virgin Australia

Airlines in italics were also on the 2015 list of top-10 safest airlines.

Launched in June 2013, the site rates each airline for safety based on a comprehensive analysis using information from the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization as well as government audits and each airline’s fatality record. AirlineRating.com’s editorial team also examined each airline’s operational history, incident records and operational excellence to arrive at its top 20 safest airlines.

Related: Nervous flyer? Here are the 10 safest airlines for 2015

(Photo: Peter Morrison/AP Photo)

Safest low-cost airlines

The editors at AirlineRatings.com also recognized that more and more travelers in all classes are looking for bargains and are flying more low-cost carriers than ever before. Given the intense competition in the airline industry, especially for regional routes, this trend is sure to continue in 2016. To meet the needs of bargain-hunting travelers, the AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top 10 safest low cost airlines. The editors note that the airlines in their top 10 have all passed the stringent IOSA requirements and have excellent safety records.

Here are the top 10 low-cost airlines, in alphabetical order:

• Aer Lingus
• Flybe (British low-cost regional airline based in Exeter, and the largest regional airline based in Europe)
• HK Express (a Hong Kong-based low-cost airline)
• Jetblue
• Jetstar Australia (part of Jetstar Group, a group of value-based carriers providing service across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region)

• Thomas Cook (a British charter airline)
• TUI Fly (German airline)
• Virgin America
• Volaris (Mexico’s second largest airline after Aeroméxico)
• Westjet (a Canadian airline)

Airlines in italics were also on the 2015 list of top-10 safest low-cost airlines.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

How the ratings are determined

The airlines can earn up to seven stars, based on how well the airline meets the following safety criteria. Of the 407 airlines surveyed, the editors explain, 148 have the top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 have just three stars or less. There are 10 airlines with only one star and these airlines are from Indonesia, Nepal and Surinam.

• Is the airline IOSA or ISSA certified? If yes, two stars are awarded; if not, no star is given. IOSA stands for IATA [International Air Transport Association] Operational Safety Audit. ISSA certification, which stands for IATA Standard Safety Assessment, is similar to IOSA, but designed for airlines that operate small regional aircraft.
• Is the airline on the European Union Blacklist? If no, a full star is awarded; if yes, then no star is given. The EU Blacklist is defined as a list of airlines banned from flying into European airspace because of safety concerns arising from alleged poor aircraft maintenance or regulatory oversight.
• Has the airline maintained a fatality-free record for the past 10 years? If yes, the airline is awarded a full star; if not, then no star is given.
• Is the airline FAA endorsed? If yes a full star is awarded; if not, no star is given.
• Does the country of airline origin meet all eight ICAO safety parameters? If yes, two stars are awarded to the airline. However, if the one criteria that is below the average is so by less than 15% it is considered a pass. If five to seven of the criteria are met, one star is awarded. If the country only meets up to four criteria, no star is given.
• Has the airline’s fleet been grounded by the country’s governing aviation safety authority because of safety concerns? If yes, an additional star will be taken off the total for five years from the time of grounding.
• Does the airline operate only Russian-built aircraft? If yes, an additional star will be taken off the total.

(AP Photo)

To put airline safety into perspective, AirlineRatings.com editors offer the following statistics:

• According to Aviation Safety Network data, the 16 accidents in 2015 with 560 fatalities were below the 10-year average of 31 accidents and 714 fatalities. In comparison, in 2014 there were 21 fatal accidents with 986 fatalities.
• A record 3.6 billion passengers flew on 34 million flights in 2015 on all the world’s airlines combined.
• In 1965 there were 87 crashes killing 1,597 when airlines carried only 141 million passengers—5% of the number of passengers carried in 2015.

However and wherever you travel, bon voyage!

See the full report at AirlineRatings.com.

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