With both the devastating Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines crashes taking place in the last month, aviation safety has been at the forefront of the news cycle and on many passengers’ minds.
Despite there being no indication that flying is any less safe than it’s ever been, Google Trends (GOOGL) data shows a clear increase in searches such as “is it safe to fly” following the crash in South Korea’s South Jeolla Province that claimed 179 lives on Jan. 5.
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This is officially the safest airline you can take in 2025
As part of its annual report, AirlineRatings.com released its 2025 ranking of the world’s safest mainstream and low-cost airlines — the grading system takes into account factors such as fleet age and size, pilot training, and number of serious incidents in the last two years, among others.
On this front, Air New Zealand (ANZFF) came out at the clear winner in the mainstream category while Cathay Pacific subsidiary Hong Kong Express scored first place in the low-cost one. Air New Zealand overtook fellow Southern Hemisphere competitor Qantas Airways (QUBSF) while Australia’s flagship carrier landed in second place just ahead of a third-place tie between Cathay Pacific (CPCAF) , Qatar Airways and Emirates.
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“It was extremely close again between Air New Zealand and Qantas for first place with only 1.50 points separating the two airlines,” AirlineRatings.com CEO Sharon Petersen said in a statement. “Whilst both airlines uphold the highest safety standards and pilot training, Air New Zealand continues to have a younger fleet than Qantas, which separates the two.”
When it comes to North American airlines, only one major airline landed in the top ten globally. Alaska Airlines (ALK) came in ninth place, between Korean Air at eighth and Turkish Airlines in tenth. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines’ ranked in the top ten despite the January 2024 incident when a door and window panel blew out mid-flight.
An Alaska Horizon Embraer 175LR aircraft approaches Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for a landing from Las Vegas on January 4, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Some notable absences include Spirit, Singapore Airlines and KLM (here is why)
Frontier Airlines (FRON) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) took respective fifth and ninth place in the budget category. After Hong Kong Express, top five of low-cost airlines was also rounded out by Qantas offshoot Jetstar and European carriers Ryanair (RYAOF) and EasyJet (EJTTF) alongside Frontier.
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“New additions to the list include Zipair, Jet2 (DRTGF) , and Air Baltic,” the report reads. “A notable omission this year is Spirit Airlines (SAVE) , which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2024 to restructure its finances and reduce debt.”
Mainstream airlines that previously also landed among the world’s safest but were notably absent this year include flagship carriers such as Singapore Airlines (SINGF) and KLM (AFRAF) . The ranking cut off this year at the 23rd space, taken by United UAL instead of the usual 25, because third place was shared by three airlines.
Singapore Airlines took a hit in the ranking due to several incidents of turbulence in which passengers were injured during the spring of 2024. However, the other factors affecting the score still make it an extremely safe airline to take.
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