The Safest Airlines to Fly in 2025

Jessica Puckett
·5 min read

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It’s a common refrain that air travel is the safest form of transportation. But that well-worn statistic is little comfort to the nervous flier who still white-knuckles their armrest during take-off and jolts at the slightest hint of turbulence.

While no list or award can predict the future, the annual ranking of the safest airlines in the world from Australia-based aviation safety and product rating website Airline Ratings can be a helpful resource for squeamish fliers.

Each year, the site’s aviation experts compare the safety credentials of nearly 400 airlines, examining criteria such as serious safety incidents within the last two years, the rate of safety incidents, recent fatal accidents, audits from aviation governing bodies, fleet age, fleet size, expert pilot training, and profitability.

That last category might sound irrelevant, but “financial instability within an airline can lead to significant operational challenges, automatically disqualifying it as a candidate” for the list, according to Airline Ratings CEO Sharon Petersen. For additional insight, the website’s staff also confer with outside experts in the aviation industry, including airline check pilots (professionals who train and evaluate pilots for airlines).

Below, these are the safest airlines to fly in 2025.

This story has been updated with new information since its original publish date.

The safest airline in the world

For the second year in a row, the title of safest airline in the world has been awarded to Air New Zealand. In 2025, the Kiwi carrier’s newer planes gave it a slight edge over Australian airline Qantas for the top spot, which scooped up the second position on this year’s list. “It was extremely close again between Air New Zealand and Qantas for first place with only 1.50 points separating the two airlines,” Petersen said in a statement. “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.”

Indeed, the competition on the list was extremely tight this year—so much so that the third spot on the list was called a three-way tie between Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, and Emirates. “We simply could not separate these airlines,” Petersen said. “From fleet age to pilot skill, safety practices, fleet size, and number of incidents, their scores were identical.” The fact that so many top airlines have such impressive safety records should be hearty reassurance to any nervous flier.

The top 25 safest airlines in the world

Five US airlines made Airline Rating's top 25 list: Alaska Airlines (number 9), Hawaiian Airlines (12), American Airlines (13), Delta (21), and United Airlines (23). Notably, Delta made it into the top 25 this year after being left off last year’s list, and American Airlines jumped seven spots from 2024, when it placed 22nd.

There were also two carriers named to the list for the first time ever in 2025: Spanish carrier Iberia, which grabbed the 16th spot, and Vietnam Airlines, which ranked 22nd. Those carriers edged out Singapore Airlines and KLM, two airlines that have historically always made the list but were narrowly eliminated due to recent incidents that occurred last year. Although, importantly, Petersen emphasized that both carriers are overall still “exceptionally safe” and “retain their seven-star safety rating.”

  1. Air New Zealand

  2. Qantas

  3. Cathay Pacific; Qatar Airways; Emirates

  4. Virgin Australia

  5. Etihad Airways

  6. ANA

  7. EVA Air

  8. Korean Air

  9. Alaska Airlines

  10. Turkish Airlines (THY)

  11. TAP Portugal

  12. Hawaiian Airlines

  13. American Airlines

  14. SAS

  15. British Airways

  16. Iberia

  17. Finnair

  18. Lufthansa/Swiss

  19. JAL

  20. Air Canada

  21. Delta Airlines

  22. Vietnam Airlines

  23. United Airlines

The 25 safest low-cost airlines

Airline Ratings’ report also analyzes the safety credentials of low-cost carriers around the world, an aviation category which gets its own annual list. This year, five budget carriers from the US were included in the top 25 safest low-cost carriers: Frontier (number 5), Southwest (9), Sun Country (15), JetBlue (17), and Allegiant Air (21), which made the list again after being cut in 2024. Spirit Airlines, which has consistently ranked on the list for several years, was left off of the 2025 edition due to its recent bankruptcy filing.

The first place low-cost ranking went to Hong Kong Express, a newcomer debuting on this year’s list. The fast-growing airline, which is a subsidiary of Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific, hasn’t “had any serious incidents and maintains a relatively flawless safety record,” according to Airline Ratings. Other newbies joining the ranks this year are Japanese carrier Zipair (23), UK airline Jet2 (14), and Latvian carrier Air Baltic (25).

Here are the top 25 safest low-cost airlines in the world for 2025, per Airline Ratings:

  1. Hong Kong Express

  2. Jetstar Group

  3. Ryanair

  4. easyJet

  5. Frontier Airlines

  6. AirAsia

  7. Wizz Air

  8. VietJet Air

  9. Southwest Airlines

  10. Volaris

  11. flydubai

  12. Norwegian

  13. Vueling

  14. Jet2

  15. Sun Country Airlines

  16. WestJet

  17. JetBlue Airways

  18. Air Arabia

  19. IndiGo

  20. Eurowings

  21. Allegiant Air

  22. Cebu Pacific

  23. ZipAir

  24. SKY Airline

  25. Air Baltic

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler

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