3 Gulf airlines rank among the safest...

Local low-cost airlines didn’t score so well

AirlineRatings.com’s annual list of the Top 25 Safest Airlines has ranked Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad among the top five of global, full-service carriers.

Qatar Airways and Emirates were ranked joint third (alongside Cathay Pacific), behind Air New Zealand in top spot and Australia’s Qantas in second. Etihad came in fifth place, behind Virgin Australia.

“It was extremely close again between Air New Zealand and Qantas for first place with only 1.50 points separating the two airlines,” said AirlineRatings.com CEO Sharon Petersen.

“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.

“The three-way tie for third place was because we simply could not separate these airlines. From fleet age to pilot skill, safety practices, fleet size, and number of incidents, their scores were identical.”

Airlines missing from this year’s list include Singapore Airlines and KLM, with Petersen saying while they are still exceptionally safe, incidents have occurred.

For low-cost airlines, Hong Kong Express took top spot, followed by Jetstar Group and Ryanair.

Representing the region were Wizz Air (seventh place), flydubai (11th) and Air Arabia (18th).

The airlines are graded by check pilots and aviation experts, and take into account incidents, fleet age and size, profitability, pilot training, and IOSA certification.

The website was developed in 2012 and features more than 230 of the airlines (that carry 99% of global passengers) with a product rating.

AirlineRating’s top 25 safest full-service airlines in 2025:

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

AirlineRating’s top 25 safest low-cost airlines in 2025:

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