Two other European airlines, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, featured in the report, which was published by the Geneva-based Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA).
Six of the ten safest airlines – Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and US Airways – are based in the United States. Japan Airlines was also named among the top ten.
In its “Holistic Safety Rating” report ATRA compared publicly available data on 100 of the world’s largest airlines.
It took into account 15 different criteria, including the age of the each airline’s fleet, their pilot training facilities and the number of accidents they have been involved in during the last ten years.
ATRA, which operates independently of any airline, manufacturer or regulatory authority, says the study was undertaken to “provide the aviation sector with rigorous and transparent information, liable to encourage airlines to track, interpret and discuss any criteria in the organisation contributing to flight safety.”
Each year, the European Union releases list of banned airlines, often considered to be the world’s most dangerous. The latest list, published in April, can be seen at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/list_en.htm. It includes 37 Kazakh carriers and 43 Indonesian airlines.
