World’s safest airlines named
Cathay Pacific has been named as the world’s safest airline, followed by Emirates, EVA Air of Taiwan and Air Canada.
The European airline with the best safety record is KLM, according to new data published by Hamburg-based Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC).
JACDEC researchers score the world’s 60 biggest airlines according to traffic versus the number of accidents and losses over the past 30 years. No UK airlines are currently in the top 12 worldwide.
It said that in 2014, the death toll from commercial passenger flights was four times higher than in 2013, making it the second worst in a decade.
The fatality rate was increased by Malaysia Airlines’ twin disasters – the loss of flight MH370 with 239 people onboard and the shooting down of flight MH17, killing 298 – and the AirAsia crash on December 28 with the loss of 162 lives.
As a result, Malaysia Airlines fell from 34th place in the safety rankings to 57th.
About half of last year’s fatalities came from the Asia-Pacific region.
JACDEC’s full data for 2015 will be published at the end of this month.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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