World's Top 10 Safest Airlines According to the ATRA

Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA) has come with a report that lists the world’s most safe airlines. This report was released by the agency yesterday and already it has created quite a flutter in the industry and raised a few eyebrows.



According to the report, no airline from Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East is ‘safe enough’ to be listed in the top 10. On the other hand, as many as six American airlines -American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways - have made it to the list.



Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa are the three Europe-based airlines that are included in the top 10 safest airlines list. Whereas, Japan Airlines is the only Asian carrier that will appeal to the anxious traveller looking for cheap flight tickets!



It is interesting to note that the list of safest airlines has no crossover with operators providing top notch customer service. It seems that passengers who buy air tickets can either have good customer service or excellent flight safety!



Geneva-based ATRA is a rating agency that deals with aviation risk evaluation and advanced data analyses in the air travel sector. The agency has conducted this first of its kind study and it is reported that the agency has examined publicly available information on 15 criteria before coming up with these rankings. Few criteria that were considered by the ATRA are the figure of travellers and cabin crew employees, the average age of the carrier’s aircrafts and number accidents taken place in last decade. Air Transport Rating Agency also took in the consideration the availability of dedicated flight academy pilot-training facilities and dedicated full flight simulators.



ATRA explained that just depending on the accident figures to come up with a quotient of airline safety is not entirely right. One is needed to look into the “technical, human, organisational and external” elements before making the call.



ATRA hailed European Union’s ‘blacklist’ as the step in the right direction as far as airline safety rating is concerned, but the agency believes that EU’s list led to a belief that airlines which do not feature on the 'blacklist' are all on the same level as far as safety in concerned.



“Even though the European Union publishes a 'blacklist' of dangerous airlines, there exists a real difference in safety between the other airline companies,” ATRA was quoted by various news portals.



No Skytrax Awarded Airline in ATRA’s List



None of the airlines that are renowned all over the world for their superior customer care or in-flight services have found a place in the ATRA’s newly released list. Cheap flights on 5-star airlines like Qatar Airways and Asiana remain much in demand but it seems when it comes to safety these airlines do not actually grab the top honours.