Aer Lingus named in the top ten safest low-cost airlines in the world

Qantas, as it has been every year since the introduction of the ratings, finished in the number one spot overall.

Aer Lingus has been named amongst the top ten safest low-cost airlines to fly with in the world, according to airlineratings.com. The website has been ranking airlines around the world in terms of safety since 2013 and Aer Lingus was named in the top ten in the low-cost category alongside Flybe, HK Express, Jetblue, Jetstar Australia, Jetstar Asia, Thomas Cook, Virgin America, Vueling and Westjet. Airline Ratings monitors 425 airlines around the globe for its rankings and for the fourth year in succession, it was Australian airline Qantas which came out on top, with the website describing its fatality-free record in the jet era as "extraordinary". The criteria used by Airline Ratings includes audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations; government audits; an airline’s crash and serious incident record; profitability and fleet age and its track record of initiating new safety technology. 148 of the 425 airlines monitored have the top seven-star safety ranking but almost 50 have just three stars or less. 14 airlines, meanwhile, from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nepal and Surinam, have just one star. 2016 was the second safest year on record to travel by air, with 19 fatal airliner accidents resulting in the deaths of 325 people, compared to 560 deaths from 16 accidents in 2015. For more information, check out the Airline Ratings website.

Top 20 safest airlines in the world

• Qantas
• Air New Zealand
• Alaska Airlines
• All Nippon Airways
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Delta Air Lines
• Etihad Airways
• EVA Air
• Finnair
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• KLM
• Lufthansa
• Scandinavian Airline System
• Singapore Airlines
• Swiss
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Virgin Australia