Air New Zealand is the world’s safest airline for flying in 2025, according to new industry rankings.
AirlineRatings.com's annual round-up of the safest full-service and low-cost carriers intends to help passengers make informed choices when choosing who to take off with.
The airline safety and product rating website surveyed 385 airlines based on nine categories to determine the world’s safest airlines.
These categories included serious incidents over the past two years, fleet age, fleet size, the rate of incidents, fatalities, profitability, IOSA certification, ICAO country audit pass and pilot skill and training.
In the top spot, Air New Zealand’s young fleet, high safety standards and great pilot training was closely followed by Qantas in second for the safest full-service airlines.
Making their list debut, Iberia and Vietnam Airlines in 16th and 22nd respectively, with Korean Air climbing the rankings into the top 10.
Singapore Airlines and KLM, although “exceptionally safe”, were notably absent from the list due to incidents in 2025.
As for the safest low-cost airlines, Hong Kong Express claimed the number one spot for its “relatively flawless safety record”.
Zipair, Jet2 and Air Baltic were new additions to the 2025 shortlist of safe carriers in place of Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2024.
Despite some recent aviation tragedies, air travel remains one of the safest modes of transport.
A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in August 2024 found that between 2018 and 2022, the global death risk per flight boarding was approximately one in 13.7 million.
The safest airline shortlist also considered how incidents are managed by carriers.
CEO of AirlineRatings.com, Sharon Petersen, said: “It was extremely close again between Air New Zealand and Qantas for first place 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.”
She added: “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.”
The world's safest full-service airlines for 2025
- Air New Zealand
- Qantas
- Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates
- Virgin Australia
- Etihad Airways
- ANA
- EVA Air
- Korean Air
- Alaska Airlines
- Turkish Airlines (THY)
- TAP Portugal
- Hawaiian Airlines
- American Airlines
- SAS
- British Airways
- Iberia
- Finnair
- Lufthansa/Swiss
- JAL
- Air Canada
- Delta Air Lines
- Vietnam Airlines
- United Airlines
The world's safest low-cost airlines for 2025
- Hong Kong Express
- Jetstar Group
- Ryanair
- easyJet
- Frontier Airlines
- AirAsia
- Wizz Air
- VietJet Air
- Southwest Airlines
- Volaris
- flydubai
- Norwegian
- Vueling
- Jet2
- Sun Country Airlines
- WestJet
- JetBlue Airways
- Air Arabia
- IndiGo
- Eurowings
- Allegiant Air
- Cebu Pacific
- ZipAir
- SKY Airline
- Air Baltic
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