Qantas once again tops the list, as airline fatalities and crashes reach all-time low.

Last year was statistically the safest on record for air travel, according to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), which tracks aviation incidents and accidents.

The ASN found there were 10 fatal commercial passenger and cargo air crashes which killed a total of 44 people, way down on the five-year average of 17 crashes with 495 deaths.

Despite Donald Trump trying to claim credit for the drop in air fatalities, in fact the number of airline accidents have been on a steady global decline since 1992.

This is “all the more impressive” says CNN, “when you take into account that 2017 is also likely to be the busiest year ever for commercial flights”, with total global passenger numbers expected to exceed the 3.7 billion who flew in 2016.

But while passenger jet crashes hit an all-time low last year, some airlines fare far better than others when it comes to their safety record.

So who is top?

According to the Australia-based aviation analysis website AirlineRatings.com‘s annual list of the world’s safest airlines, Aussie carrier Qantas came out top for the fifth year in a row.

The rankings are based on a number of factors including the airline’s standing with international regulators, its fatality record over the past 10 years, the age of its fleet of planes, its result from an International Air Transport Association safety audit.

Developed with the help of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organisation, the list analyses 409 airlines around the world to arrive at an unranked top 20, with Qantas the stand-out winner.

AirlineRatings.com‘stor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas praised Qantas or being “the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years” without a single fatality in the jet era.

“But Qantas is not alone,” she added. “Long-established airlines such as Hawaiian and Finnair have perfect records in the jet era.”

The top 20 for 2018, in alphabetical order are:

Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.

“Notably absent from the 2018 list are the US airlines Delta and United”, notes CNN.

It follows a five-day meltdown last April in which more than 3,200 Delta flights were cancelled in response to storms, and an incident on board a United Airlines flight when the video of a passenger being dragged off a plane went viral, seriously damaging the airlines’ reputation.

What about the least safe?

Of the over 400 airlines around the world that were monitored, those rated one star (out of seven) for safety all hailed from either Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nepal or Suriname.

They include: Air Koryo, Blue Wing Airlines, Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines, Tara Air, Trigana Air Service and Yeti Airlines.

In the case of Buddha Air, the airline has been unable to undergo a formal IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and become registered “as there are certain IOSA requirements which Buddha Air cannot comply with, through no fault of its own” it said on its website.

However, The National claims “it states that it still wishes to be measured against world airline safety standards, and also highlights the increasing problem of bird strikes in Nepal”. www.theweek.co.uk