Qantas named safest airline for 2017

Qantas has once again been named as the world' safest airline for four years straight!. The year 2016 was one of the safest years in aviation history. Despite some high profile accidents such as the still missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 back in 2014, the number of airplane crashes has been steadily declining over the last 20 years.

And with this, Australia-based website AirlineRatings.com hailed Australian carrier Qantas leads over 425 other airlines that the site monitors when it comes to aviation safety.

In a report by SBS, AirlineRatings.com takes into account a range of factors when consolidating their list, including audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations; government audits; airline's crash and serious incident record, as well as profitability and fleet age.

Editor Geoffrey Thomas of AirlineRatings.com says "Our top 20 safest airlines are always at the forefront of safety innovation, operational excellence and the launching of more advanced aircraft like the A350, 787 and 777X,". He also added "While these airlines are always leaders in safety there was no question that Qantas still remains the leader in safety enhancements and operational excellence."

The Herald reports of Airline Ratings' top 20 safest airlines in alphabetical order:

•  Air New Zealand
•  Alaska Airlines
•  All Nippon Airways
•  British Airways
•  Cathay Pacific Airways
•  Delta Air Lines
•  Etihad Airways
•  EVA Air
•  Finnair
•  Hawaiian Airlines
•  Japan Airlines
•  KLM
•  Lufthansa
•  Scandinavian Airline System
•  Singapore Airlines
•  Swiss
•  United Airlines
•  Virgin Atlantic; and
•  Virgin Australia

Airline Ratings also named its top 10 low-cost airlines for 2016 in alphabetical order:

•  Aer Lingus
•  Flybe
•  HK Express
•  Jetblue
•  Jetstar Australia
•  Jetstar Asia
•  Thomas Cook
•  Virgin America
•  Vueling; and
•  Westjet

Furthermore, Geoffrey Thomas also said "Over the 96-year history of Qantas, they have amassed an amazing record of firsts in safety and operations and is accepted as the world's most experienced airline. He also added "Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years".