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The world’s only airline safety, product and COVID-19 rating website, airlineratings.com, has recently evaluated the safest airlines across the globe for 2021.
The site has announced the ‘Top Twenty Safest Airlines’, ‘Top Twenty COVID-19 Compliant Airlines’, and ‘Top Ten Safest Low-Cost Airlines’ for this year.
Airlineratings.com is solely dedicated to review and rate airline safety and products using its unique seven-star rating system.
The site monitors 385 airlines around the world.
Top Twenty Safest Airlines
The website determined Australia-based Qantas to be the safest airline in the world for 2021. This marks the third consecutive year in which Qantas took the top spot in the list.
Only one US-based carrier, Alaska Airlines, managed to secure a spot in the top ten. Overall, six US airlines made the list.
This is a notable improvement from 2020, in which only two US airlines made the list.
The rankings, in numerical order, are as follows:
Qantas, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, EVA Air, Etihad Airways, Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, British Airways, Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, SAS, Finnair, Lufthansa, KLM, and United Airlines.
Though the rankings are graded 1-20, the site’s Editor-in-Chief, Geoffrey Thomas, indicates that all airlines that made the list are standouts in the industry and leaders of safety, innovation and launching of new aircraft.
The evaluation for the rankings consisted of a criterion of factors including airline crash and serious incident records, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, government audits, industry-leading safety initiatives, and fleet age.
Thomas noted that serious incidents and how they were handled were heavily considered, stating:
“However all airlines have incidents every day, and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues, not airline operational problems. It is the way the flight crew handles these incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one.”
Top Twenty COVID-19 Compliant Airlines
Surprisingly, 2021’s safest airline, Qantas, did not crack the list. Four US carriers, Alaska, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, managed to get a spot.
The top twenty airlines for COVID-19 compliance, listed alphabetically, are as follows:
Air Baltic, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, AirAsia, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Eva Air, Japan Airlines, JetBlue, KLM, Korean Airlines, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Southwest, Qatar Airways and WestJet.
The site’s Editor-in-Chief, Geoffrey Thomas, believes these airlines have gone above and beyond in protecting passengers or in adding flexibility, adding:
“All these airlines have been trendsetters in making travel as safe as possible.”
Overall, the website notes that many airlines globally have aggressively adapted a COVID-19 action plan and have changed their policies to achieve the highest ranking of seven stars on the site.
Out of 430 airlines surveyed, 119 have attained a ranking of seven stars.
Contrastingly, 117 airlines currently have a zero-star rating for COVID-19 compliance or have no information on COVID-19 policies on their website.
For full compliance, the site requires the following seven criteria to be put in place by the airlines:
- Website information on COVID-19 procedures
- Face masks for passengers
- Personal protection equipment for the crew
- Modified meal service
- Deep clean of aircraft
- Personal sanitizer kit
- Social distancing onboarding
Top 10 Safest Low-Cost Airlines for 2021
The top ten safest low-cost airlines for 2021 includes US carrier JetBlue.
The full list, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
Air Arabia, Allegiant, EasyJet, Frontier, Jetstar Group, JetBlue, Ryanair, Vietjet, WestJet, and Wizz.
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Disclaimer: Current travel rules and restrictions can change without notice. The decision to travel is ultimately your responsibility. Contact your consulate and/or local authorities to confirm your nationality’s entry and/or any changes to travel requirements before traveling. Travel Off Path does not endorse traveling against government advisories
Leon
Friday 15th of January 2021
I have taken 12 planes during the pandemic to get to spain from Canada. I can tell you that I wipe my sitting area down vigorously with wipes , I have my purel bottle which I use constantly during the flight I also wear a kn95 mask and a face shield. The planes are packed about 85%. Air France , Lufthansa , klm and so far I’ve been lucky.
LadaF
Tuesday 12th of January 2021
Thanks Kashlee for following all the related news. Unfortunately, these self gratifying lists are just the usual and mostly western suspects, who own the air space, and create the news ahout themselves. much of this is false: A friend flew Delta and Klm this June and July from Detroit to Belgrade and reported that both were packed with no empty seats. Same with Lufthansa from New York to Athens. They spray planes? So does everyone, but what else are they doing to make people feel a tad safer? Yet, the lists omit Air Serbia, which has a strict middle seat policy and flies half empty planes in order to comply with covid rules. It is going bankrupt yet it blocks all the middle seats. People should have truthful information in order to make informed choices.